Cheyenne joins a group of investors on a cattle drive, but one of the party is a killer.
Episode Notes[]
- This is the first episode of Season Two.
- The opening footage of criminals escaping was used in the season one episode Border Showdown, even showing poor Brad Farnum being run down and killed...again.
- According to the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television, 2nd Edition, this episode was co-written by producer Roy Huggins to "see how many TV western rules he could get away with breaking" and became for Huggins one step in the development of his anti-hero Western series Maverick starring James Garner.
- The Samantha Crawford character, played by Diane Brewster, would appear in four episodes of Maverick.
Real World References[]
- The Duke says that Opie the cook is "the last of the Borgias", a reference to the Borgia family which was prominent during the Italian Renaissance and were known for murdering people using arsenic poison in their food.
Continuity Nitpicks[]
- Stanley Adams plays the feisty German Heinz, but the end credits list his character's name as Joe Epic.
Plot[]
Cheyenne makes a deal with Sam to assist her cattle drive.
A beautiful blond woman named Samantha Crawford stops Cheyenne Bodie in the doorway of a hotel. She offers him $300 to keep two men away from her until the Santa Fe sheriff arrives on the stagecoach. (Most badge-wearing men of the town are out searching for the bank-robbing Berato gang.) Cheyenne doesn't mind getting paid to be a white knight so he agrees.
Cheyenne makes good on the deal and catches the men in their hotel room. But they claim that Samantha is the real criminal for cheating them out of $2,000 in a phony mine deal. Cheyenne decides to let the sheriff sort it out in the morning. The only problem is there's no sheriff on the Santa Fe stage and Samantha is long gone. Desiring the $300 he's due, Bodie rides out to track down the female con artist.
Out on the range, Cheyenne comes across a cattle drive manned by the female rogue and a collection of characters: a German brewery owner, a British duke, a cheapskate ranch foreman, a young cowboy, a pious Catholic priest and a crusty cook. She offers Cheyenne a job as trail boss, but her partner Lew Lattimer gets one look at Bodie and rejects the deal. Cheyenne accepts a trail rider position for much less pay, but warns if they need his services later he won't come cheap.
Another murder has taken place on the trail.
After all have settled in to bed, Samantha stretches her legs and is joined by Lew, who is in a romantic mood. Sam rejects his advances but he won't take no for an answer. Young Dawson intervenes on her behalf but Lew beats him up until Cheyenne stops the fight.
The next morning, Lew discovers that someone stabbed and killed Dawson during the night. At his burial, everyone eyes Lattimer suspiciously but there's no proof who committed the crime. Everyone is a suspect.
The drive continues and Lattimer leads it straight into a crisis when the river in their path is just a dusty trench. When Lew learns that Cheyenne knew the river would be dry he knocks the big cowboy to the ground. They fight until Cheyenne's punch lays him out. Lattimer concedes that finding water is the job of a trail boss. He agrees to let Cheyenne take over.
Cheyenne fires at the robber Mike Berato.
Around the nighttime campfire, Opie and the Duke have a spat and in a fit of anger the Duke lets his true, less-than-royal accent slip. Suspicions are aroused and Heinz threatens the sputtering Englishman. Cheyenne defuses their anger, but that doesn't stop the killer from striking during the night. This time the Duke is the victim and while suspicions abound there's no clear evidence who did it.
The drive is finally nearing Kansas City and there's good news: beef prices are up! To celebrate, Opie has cooked up ham and eggs, and everyone tears in. As they eat, Lew laments that once the drive ends the murderer among them will go free.
Cheyenne has a sudden revelation and announces that he knows who the killer is. He recalls the morning he thought he saw Samantha prowling around camp, but it was Padre Juan's robe that he really saw. And he asks why the priest is eating ham when all good Catholics abstain from eating meat on Fridays. He tears away the priest's robe and a stash of money spills onto the ground. Padre Juan is actually Mike Berato, the bank robber. Berato pulls a gun and demands that everyone turn away. Lew makes a quick move that distracts Berato and Cheyenne shoots him. Just before he dies, Berato confesses to the murders.
It's payday now that the drive is done, thanks to Cheyenne's watchful eye.
With the drama over, the drive moves into Kansas City and everyone plans to meet later to collect their pay. Sneaky Samantha heads to the cattle broker's office and makes arrangements to collect every cent for herself. Just as she's tying up her purse strings, Cheyenne intercepts her. The others come to collect their share of the money, blissfully unaware of Sam's attempt to rob them.
Cheyenne and Sam go out for one last dinner and then part ways. Sam is headed to Montana to start another adventure as a gold prospector. Cheyenne watches her ride off then goes back to his hotel room to collect his things. He reaches for his money which he's hidden behind his mirror, but the money isn't there. In a mad dash he grabs his things, pays his bill in the lobby and jumps on his horse. He's after the wayward Sam once again.
Quotes[]
Sam and Cheyenne get comfortable.
"You believe me, don’t you?"
"Well, let’s say I heard you."
- - Samantha Crawford and Cheyenne disagree on her truthfulness
"Hey mister. You seen a girl in here..blond hair, blue eyes...[gestures]...figure like so?"
"Sounds like I should have."
- - Powell asks if Cheyenne has seen Samantha in the hotel.
"What caused the trouble?"
"Señor Latimer was interrupted at a tender moment."
- - Padre Juan hears Cheyenne's explanation of a late-night fight in the camp.
"Look here. I'm utterly fed up with being poisoned. This man is no cook. He's the last of the Borgias!"
"Well now, maybe your lordship aughta drop in to Buckingham Palace for tea and crumplets!"
- - The Duke and Opie argue over his cooking skills.
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