 Dedicated to the strength of the nation, we hail. Hail, starring Dale Evans in Troubled Waters, the United States Army and United States Air Force presentation. And now here is our producer, the well-known Hollywood showman, C.P. McGregor. Thank you, thank you very much, and greetings from Hollywood, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to your Theatre of Stars. We're the most outstanding talent and stars of the motion picture screen. Join us in plays we know you'll enjoy. Our star is lovely, vivacious Dale Evans. In the title of our story, an exciting tale of the West, Troubled Waters. We'll have the curtain for act one in just a moment, but first, here is your announcer with this message. Young men, the Army Medical Department offers you a future. Now the Medical Service Corps has openings for optometrists, civil, chemical and sanitary engineers, and men trained in the sciences allied to medicine. If you have a degree, you may be able to qualify for a commission, and the career opportunities it provides. Pay, allowances and retirement benefits are attractive. To see if you can qualify, write the Surgeon General, Department of the Army, Washington 25 D.C. Now once again, our producer. The curtain rises on act one of Troubled Waters starring Dale Evans as Sally Barrett. In the riotous blood-painted history of the Pekas country of Texas, there was a great sprawling range of alternate lush grass and badlands, across which the longhorns moved in straggling lines or gathered in clumps and browsed. On their flanks was the iron-seared mark of the flying bee. The bee was for Barrett, for Dan Barrett and his raven-tressed sparkling-eyed daughter, Sally. Sally and her father were Texans, real Texans. Many years before, Sally's forebears, with courage and foresight, had won this land and had held it. On the flying bee ranch, there was lots of land, but very little water. And that is the measure of this story, water. One evening, Sally, alone in the ranch house, heard the thunder of hoofs and a horse came streaking into the yard. It was her father, Old Dan, on his black stallion challenge. The stallion was lathered almost white, but there was red in Old Dan's eye. Oh, challenge! Hold up, you heard us yet! Curly! Curly! What's the matter with you? Why, you've near-run challenge to death! I know I have curly! Wait on, Sally, wait on, can't you? Hurry up, you con-son farmer, come here and get this horse. Stinks can get me there. You've been riding so long, your plumb forgot how to walk. Your legs is wishing her a crawling wobbly calf. Yes, I reckon so. Pop, will you quit that bellowing at Curly and tell me what all this commotion's about? All in good time, Sally. All in good time. Curly. Take challenge and walk him down, then rub him down, and good, mind you. Don't die always. And when you get through doing that rope and saddle walk-along, bring him to the porch. I aim to ride most shortly. Okay, Mr. Dan, come on, boy. Thank you, boy, you're done right well. Look at me. I'm a looking, Sally. I know your apartment, Jane's seeing me. What's happened? Come on inside and I'll tell you what happened. I've never seen you look like this before. Sally, set, will you? All right. Sally, I reckon you know the Swades. The Swades? Yeah, the Sneakin' Coyote and Bushwackin' Water Poison and Swades. It's them again, is it? What have they done? Why don't you ask what they ain't done? They killed your granddad. Poor of them, Bushwackin'. Shot him in the back. One night, when me and your ma were coming back from Slawson in the rig, they set some rattles in the road to scare the horses. They scared them all right. You was about to do then, and you come along. But your ma didn't. That's why you ain't got no ma, Sally. She died in a ditch. Oh, pop. Look, Sally, we're barrettes. You understand? This grazing ground out here is barrette grazing ground. We want it. We fought for it. And we're going to keep it. The water hole again, pop? Yes, Sally. The water hole again and the Swades. What have they done this time? Oiled it. What? They poured gallons of crude oil all over it. A scum so thick and stinking that no cow critter could or would stick its muzzle in it. Sally, they've been trying to steal that water and hole for long before I can remember. They're going to get it. What are you going to do, pop? Oh, no, pop, please. Sally, get me them cartridges off the mantelpiece. Pop, no, I won't. There's five of them Swades and only one of you. Sally. Look at me. I'm looking. I'm a Texan, Sally. And I'm a barrette. There ain't nobody going to run me off my ground. Get me them cartridges. Pop, please, you can't win. Maybe not. Maybe not, Sally. But I can sure die a tryon. The door opened. The calm yellow gleam of the lamp light fell out and through it walked Dan Barrett. There were two guns strapped to his sides. What is it, Sally? Come here. All right. I'm here. Pop. Yeah? No, you're left cheek. It isn't so stubbly. Whiskey's never did grow much on my far side. Mm. And look, Pop, listen, when you shoot, please don't shoot in hate. Shoot on the water. And you know how rocks skip on water. Bye. Bye, Sally. Walk along plenty ready, Mr. Dan. Yeah. Sure am I. Easy, boy. Easy, Curly. Yes, Mr. Dan. If I ain't back before morning, or if walk along comes Mojian back with an empty saddle, ride for the marshal. You come back, Pop. You hear me? You come back. I'll do my darnedest, Sally. Take care of yourself, girl. Get along, boy. You didn't tell me nothing, Miss Sally, but your two bricks against the busted spiral, your dad's going gunning for the Swades again. Yeah, I don't know of any argument that would stop him. Curly, did you hear what that darn fool Pop of mine said to me? He said for me to take care of myself. Old Dan Barrett, his lips set in a grim line, rides out into the night, cutting his horse across the arroyo to the Smoky Ridge Road, the road which leads to the Barrex Forty in the ranch house of the Swades. Old Dan doesn't know it, but this encounter is to be without the element of surprise. The Swades, too, are veterans of range warfare. As Old Dan rides down the cleft of Smoky Ridge, a figure rises in the shadow of a boulder, and starlight glints blue along the rifle barrel. Somebody come and run. They're inside there. Everybody dead? Their direction covered with a shotgun, mister. Well, dang it, old man, put that thing down and get a lantern. I've got your dad out here, and he's hurt. He's hurt bad. Didn't I just say so? I thought I said to get a lantern. We don't need any lantern. We ain't got time. Let's get him inside. Ain't you got any emails in this place? Listen, I'm just as strong as any we've got around here. Come on, let's leave him out of this cell. Well, how I got him up there, maybe we can get him down the same way without killing him dead. Here, now, you take his shoulders and I'll take his weight on the hips. All right. Easy now, miss. Down we go. The reckoning's lost a lot of blood. What happened? I don't rightly know. Found him laying face down in Smoky Ridge. Fierce like he's been shot in the back. How do you feel, Pop? My poorly, Sally. I'm riding right now for the doctor, ma'am. I'll get him here before you can bat your eyes twice. Thanks very much. The name's Lance. Lance Sterling. I've seen you, ma'am. Pop, is there anything I can get you? Is there anything I can do for you? Yes, Sally. There is something you can do for me, if you would. What is it, Pop? Just keep saying to yourself, so the children never forget it. The Barrett's won this land. They're not for it. And they're gonna keep it. They're gonna keep it, Sally. Even if it means fighting on until doomsday. Yes, sir. You're a Barrett, Sally. And I'm reckoning on you doing the fighting. If anything happens to me, you will. Yes, Pop. I will. Like you said, I'm a Barrett. And you can just rest easy in your mind now, Pop. You can go to sleep. We pause briefly from our story, Troubled Waters starring Dale Evans to bring you an important message from our government. A career in aviation offers you the opportunity to follow your aims and ambitions in a wide variety of interesting and exciting assignments. Both flying and non-flying careers are open to you if you can qualify and are selected for training. When you've completed training, you'll receive your reserve commission as a second lieutenant, and you'll have the opportunity to earn that regular commission while on active duty. Then comes important assignments in the field of your choice as a member of the Air Force team. Here's your chance to step up to a career with a future as an officer executive in the United States Air Force. See how you can fit into this picture. Find out about the age, educational and physical standards you must meet to qualify. Get all the facts today at your nearest U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force recruiting station. Remember, you're sure to find your choice of careers in the United States Air Force. The curtain rises on Act 2 of Troubled Waters starring Dale Evans as Sally Barrett. Many years ago, in the fabulous Pekas country of Texas, life was as cheap as land, and water was the great treasure for which they both sought. Men killed and were killed in the relentless conquest of cool waters and muddy sinkholes. Water was life's blood, and when the droughts came, man and cattle and land became parched and dried away into the badlands. On the Flying Bee Ranch, which lay between Smoky Ridge and the never-never of badlands, Sally's father, Old Dan, had been shot, shot in the back by one of the suede clans in the country old feud over water. Sally sat beside him as he lay propped up by pillows in his big oak bed. She saw his lips sat in a thin, straight line in the nationally great face, and in her face flooded the look that only fear can bring, fear for the safety and life of her father. Fetch me my clothes, Sally, and then see if we can help me to get up here. Pop, you ain't getting up. You ain't getting one foot out of that bed. Well, darn fools, I reckon I got a little like a sense, even if you ain't. Sally, did you hear me? Yes, I heard you, but you listened to me. The suede's have been killing us all for a hundred years or more, all on account of that watering hole. They ain't gonna be satisfied till they kill you, too. They ain't gonna kill me, Sally. Well, they made a fair beginning. Pop, give them the water hole. Give it to them and be done with it. A whole ocean of water ain't worth your life. I mean, against seven thousand head of cattle and saving this range. Well, what about the suede's range? Their cattle have to drink water, too, Pop. I reckon they do, but they ain't drinking water on this side of the flying bee French line. Oh, I ain't got any more use for the suede than you have. They're low down and they're conniving, but they ain't got no water for their critters nor their range either. Pop, listen, why couldn't we share that water hole with them? Why couldn't you deal with them? I'll deal with them, Sally. And I've only got one thing I'll share with them, and that's the wrong end of a 45. It's them or us, Sally. It always has been. Your granddad tried sharing water with them, but they didn't want sharing, and they wanted it all. That's why they bushwhacked him. Maybe you're all right about me not getting up yet. I reckon I'm going to need all this strength I can get before I go after them. I'll stay down, Sally, until I'm fit. And then I aim to ride again. Howdy, Mr. Sterling. Dad this morning. Well, I reckon he's just about like the old saying, the flesh is weak, but the spirit's strong. You know, I had to argue him out of getting up and going out gunning for them swades again. The fuse's been going on for quite a spell, isn't it? Most essentially. Are you riding anywhere in particular, Miss Barry? Are you just riding? Well, I was aiming to ride over to the waterhole to see how bad it is. Mind if I ride along with you? I'd be right pleased. That is, if you haven't anything else to do. I ain't. As a matter of plumb fact, I ain't got nothing to do at all. You're new in these parts. Ain't you, Mr. Sterling? Well, some, I reckon. I'd be obliged if you'd called me Lance. Calling me Mr. Sterling makes me turn around to see who you're talking to. All right, Lance. By the way, I didn't thank you for what you did for Pop. Oh, shucks. I reckon he and I just about owe his life to you. Ah, come on, nothing, man. I just riding along when I see him laying there, I just up and did what any other hombre would have done. But you never did get to where you were going, did you? Yep, I reckon I did. Where? Nowhere. That's where I was going. That's why I'm mighty grateful for you letting me put up at the bunkhouse for a spell. Are you looking for a job, Lance? Maybe. If it's the right kind of a job. Oh, what do you figure is the right kind of a job? Well, I guess mostly swapping. Swapping? Swapping what? Oh, most anything, I guess. But mostly holes in the ground in particular. Holes in the ground? Yep. There's a heap of difference in holes in the ground, Miss Barrick. Some are better than others. There's something like horses. Oh, you're a good one for talking riddles, ain't you? Oh, ain't no riddle about a hole in the ground? Now, you take that water hole there of yours. Oh, boy, here. Now, I wouldn't trade much for a hole in the ground for that. Sure is a mess, ain't it? That's the work of the Swades. That's how come Pop got himself shot. Yeah, I know. Miss Barrick, that water hole ain't much fit for cattle, is it? Nor for anything else. It might be fit for swapping. What are you talking about, Lance? Fit for swapping. Well, this morning, I took a ride over to the Barracks 40. The Swades? Yeah. Told them I was looking for a job. They didn't have none, but I'll tell you what they did have. What? They had a well-digging rig going to rack and ruin in their backyard. Yes, I know. They've been drilling all over their property for years, trying to strike water. But I reckon there just ain't no water to strike. Water? Well, ma'am, you see, seeing that rig sitting there started me to thinkin'. About what? About how you and your dad could put an end to your fuel of the Swades. How? Swappin'. Swappin' what? Holes in the ground. They've got a well-digging rig they ain't using, and you've got a water hole you can't use. Might be you could swap this one for a hole in the ground they'd dig for you, where you tellin' to. Oh, Mr. Sterling, you sound plumb loco. Maybe, Miss Barrick. But I've been swappin' holes in the ground for a long time. And I ain't never come out loser yet. Can you imagine what Pop would say to such a darn fool idea? Your Pop's in bed, ain't he? And he ain't likely be doin' much snoopin' around for a spell. Now, you could do the swappin' and forget to tell him about it. Do I look crazy, Mr. Sterling? Nope. That water hole ain't no more good to you than a dry hole in the ground might be. You know what's in this hole in the ground. You can't tell what you might find on the one I'm talkin' about. That one there ain't done nothin' for you, but get most of your kin folks killed off. A few that's lasted a hundred years so far can last a hundred years yet. You think on it, Miss Barrick. Think on it. Lance, I must be stark, staring, crazy to let you talk me into this. They're down 70 feet and there ain't a sign of hittin' water yet. Yep, that's right, Miss Barrick. There is sign. When Pop finds out, the state of Texas or the whole United States won't be big enough to hold us all. Boy, he's gonna go into a stampede like you never heard of. He ain't found out about it yet, hasn't he? He ain't likely to, for a spell. That is, unless you tell him. Don't you worry about me telling him. What do you keep gettin' handfuls of dirt from the borehole folks and lookin' at it? Just lookin' to see what's in the hole. What else could there be but dirt? Just plain dirt. Hello, Swade. We're down 78 feet, Miss Barrick. Our deal only calls for a hundred, you know? Yes, I know, Mr. Swade. And I reckon you know the deal don't call for us to strike no water. Miss Barrick knows the deal, Swade. You just keep on drillin'. Okay, Sterling, have it your own way. But let me just remind you, Miss Barrick, this little deal we're makin' is fair, legal, and bindin'. And if your pa ever comes charging out on account of what you're doin', he's gonna find the water hole fenced in and own the Bar-X-40 range. And trespassers are gonna get themselves shot at. Come here, quick, Swade! Huh? Something's mustn't lose, the drill is coming faster than it's goin' down. Miss Barrick, it's stuck oil! How did you know? Oh, I reckon it was only a little bit of known. A lot of keepin' my fingers crossed. But you knew something, Lance. You talk so sure. Well, my talkin' was somethin' like whistlin' past the graveyard. You see, Sally, you don't mind me callin' you, Sally, do you? I'd be right obliged if you would. Lookin' like I do, all covered with oil and mud. Miss Barrick just doesn't seem to fit in no ways. But you started to say somethin'. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, you see, for quite a spell, I've been messin' around the oil country northeast. I've been dogin' for them geology ombres so long I sorta caught on somethin' myself. Then I took my first good look of Smokey Ridge over there, I said to myself, now, that there is oil shale that I ain't never seen oil shale. The outcroppin' is like a hundred others I've seen. Then I got to figurein' about the water hole that was causin' all the fuss. And the more I figured and looked and the more I was plumb certain that Jim Swade was tellin' the truth when he said he didn't pour no oil in it. It was seepin' in from underneath, Sally. You mean from the earth? Yep. And that could only mean one thing, was shallow basin. But there was no way to find out for sure without drillin' that had to be done without lettin' nobody get wise or there'd been a stampede. My luck held, Sally. And I reckon now you and your dad are out of the cattle business and well, plumb up to your ears and oil. You've got yourselves the first gusher in Pekas County. Oh, Lance, I'm so con-starin' happy I could just bust. I feel like singin' and shoutin' all at the same time. Well, then why don't ya? Ain't nobody to hear ya except me and the cows and well, they don't look like that mind much. You know, Lance, I just think I will. Yee-hoo! Ah, that was a mighty, pretty hippie, Sally. I never heard one quite like it. Thank you, Lance. I was... Yeah, shittin' out boy. Lance, where are you goin'? Well, just ridin'. Where? Oh, nowhere, I reckon. Same place I was ridin' before. From the way you talk, anybody'd think you owned a bill of sale on that place of nowhere. Maybe I do. Lance, I... you wouldn't want to do some more swappin', would ya? Swappin'? Swappin' what, maybe? Swappin' your bill of sale on nowhere for my bill of sale on... somewhere. Maybe? The tricky falls in the final act of troubled waters. Our star, Dale Evans, will return for a curtain call after this timely message from Wendell Niles. Choose the career that offers all five. The U.S. Army offers you these five keys to a successful future. One, the right job for you. Scientific aptitude tests determine the right job for you. Two, continuous training in your job. Specialized training in educational courses prepare you for advancement in your field. Three, planned advancement. Under the Army's advancement plan, your skill and efficiency will assure periodic promotions. Four, lifetime security. You, as an Army man, are guaranteed regular pay and liberal retirement benefits. In sickness, your medical care is provided without cost, and your regular pay continues. Five, travel and recreation. In the Army, you will enjoy the finest recreational facilities and opportunities for worldwide travel. And remember, you have 30 days vacation with pay each year. Yes, choose the career that offers all five. Get full details at your nearest Army and Air Force recruiting station. Now once again, our star and our producer. Dale, I'm very happy that you could take time out from a busy picture schedule at Republic Studios to join us in our theater. But since you have just completed your 28th picture with Roy Rogers, it's easy to see where most of your time goes. Well, we also do a little work in radio. Now and then. Quite a little work. Sure, weekly Roy Rogers show. But seriously, Dale, what's all this excitement out at Republic these days? It's over one of our new pictures, C.P., called the Golden Stallion. That sounds like a story of a Palomino. It's more than that. This is Trigger Jr., and he makes his bow to the whole world. Trigger Jr., imagine that. Oh, C.P., he's wonderful. We just love him to death, and he's really brilliant, too. Well, naturally, look at Trigger. He could be a great hit in the circus. How will you see him? Don't worry. I'll see the Golden Stallion twice. Good for us. But speaking of your picture, I'm glad to see that you're playing more of the real Western girl, instead of the sheltered type. Well, I like it better. At least I think it's more natural. I am from Texas, C.P., remember? Surely, how could we forget? That's one good reason I like doing a Texas story with you. Of course, there was nothing wrong in portraying a city girl in some of my former pictures with Roy, but I just didn't feel quite natural. You know how it is. I like to ride more, and I don't like to be treated like a, well, I might break fragile-like. I just wasn't the frilly type they first made me. You get my vote right now as the real Western girl, the queen of the West. And believe me, royalty was never better fitted for the part. Well, thank you, sir, McGregor. Pardon us, sir. Don't mention it. Now, tell me, who's starring with you next week? And I'll just saddle up and ride along. Our star next week, Dale, and ladies and gentlemen, will be the popular radio and screen actor, Jeff Chandler. Jeff provides a vivid portrayal in a dramatic story, a story of an agnostic who finds his own soul while telling others that it does not exist. Oh, that sounds wonderful, and we'll be listening. Goodbye, CP. Goodbye, Dale. We'll come back again soon. Be sure to join us next week, ladies and gentlemen, when Jeff Chandler stars in a dramatic story once to every man. Until then, thanks for listening, and cheerio from Hollywood. Dale Evans is a character to the courtesy of the Hollywood coordinate committee, which arranges fully appearance of all stars in this program. The script was by Kimbal S. Sant with the music of Eddie Dunstead. This program was transcribed in Hollywood for release at this time. Wendell Niles speaking.