Roughed up and driven out of town for no apparent reason, Cheyenne returns to investigate the mystery of Prairie Springs.
Episode Notes[]
- According to a rumor, Clint Walker was injured during the final fight when Leo Gordon hit him with the wrong part of a breakaway chair.
Real World References[]
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Continuity Nitpicks[]
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Plot[]
After a day on the trail, Cheyenne stops at the hotel in Prairie Springs for a hot supper. His meal is interrupted by three tough-looking characters who tell him he has until dark to leave town — no reasons given. Not one to be bullied, Cheyenne shrugs off the warning and checks in to the hotel. After sundown, he heads down to the stable to check on his horse. The three cowboys jump him, beat him and cart him out of town in a wagon. Cheyenne wakes up on the outskirts where the men leave him with the warning: he’s to get out of Prairie Springs and never return.
MacDonald warns Cheyenne to leave town and never come back.
Cheyenne rides back into town after a night in the bush nursing his wounds. He learns the leader of the toughs is MacDonald, the foreman at the Culver ranch outside town. Cheyenne goes there, throws down with MacDonald and is again roughed up by the man's friends. The melee is stopped by the ranch owner Dana Culver, who has Cheyenne locked up for trespassing and disturbing the peace.
The next day at his trial, Cheyenne is surprised to see his judge is Culver! Disturbed by this, he only agrees to go forward because the alternative is to wait in jail for three weeks until a new judge arrives. After Mac testifies against Bodie, Culver is about to rule against him when the town newspaper editor interrupts and offers testimony that supports Cheyenne’s version of events. The judge rules in favor of Cheyenne and locks up MacDonald for kidnapping and perjury. Once the room is clear, Culver apologizes to Cheyenne and offers him a job on his ranch. Bodie accepts the chance to investigate MacDonald’s motivations.
Culver sees Cheyenne with his wife and suspects they're having an affair.
At the ranch, Culver’s wife Cora locks away a hastily written note from MacDonald demanding to be let out of jail. She goes downstairs where Culver introduces her to Cheyenne. Once alone with her husband, Cora convinces him to take her into town and visit MacDonald. But the visit is a ruse. While inside the cell, Cora slips MacDonald a gun which he uses to escape.
After their return, Cheyenne confronts Culver and accuses him of helping MacDonald. Culver denies it. On his way out, Cheyenne can’t stop staring at Cora. When she calls him on it, Bodie says he remembers her from somewhere, but isn’t sure where or when. She is visibly distressed by this.
MacDonald returns to demand hush money from the Culvers.
That evening, MacDonald meets with Cora secretly. Their conversation reveals Cora to be at the center of the conflict. MacDonald has been blackmailing her for years to keep her sordid past a secret from her husband, and now he’s back demanding a payoff. Cheyenne sees him ride away and confronts Cora. Inside the house, Culver sees the two of them talking. When Cora comes back inside, Culver approaches her gently but she refuses to tell him anything.
Culver goes out to confront Cheyenne about a possible relationship between him and Cora. Bodie tells Culver about Cora’s meeting with MacDonald that evening and Culver brings him back to the house to bring Cora into the conversation. However, she isn’t in her room. She was waiting outside with a gun for MacDonald to return. Losing her nerve, she comes back inside and asks Bodie to remember the last time he saw her. He recalls it was in Montana when she worked with five other girls in a house of ill repute named the Golden Horseshoe.
Cheyenne arrives in time to save the Culvers from MacDonald.
The truth now out in the open, Cheyenne leaves to find MacDonald. Cora tells Culver she’ll leave quickly to avoid damaging his reputation, but he refuses to let her go. While they are making up, MacDonald enters with a gun and demands money. Culver tries to fight, but is easily taken down. Before Cora opens the safe, Cheyenne returns. He and MacDonald fist fight until guns get involved. MacDonald shoots first and Bodie returns fire, killing him.
Satisfied with his answers, Bodie refuses Dana's offer of payment, bids the Culvers goodbye, and on his way out confirms that Cora’s secret is safe with him.
Quotes[]
"Guess that's him."
"Kinda big, ain't he?"
"Maybe he's just big on the outside."
- - MacDonald and his friends size up Cheyenne before they threaten him.
"Your name Cheyenne?"
"People I've known a while call me that. Other folks call me Mr. Bodie."
- - MacDonald and Cheyenne get acquainted.
“I got plenty of anger inside me. I just don’t know which way it’s pointed.”
- - Cheyenne warns a nervous cowboy that he’s not interested in revenge...yet.
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