 Hello there. This is the family doctor. Tell you, doctor, a man can't never tell when a riot or a strike or something will break out. In Cederton? No. Phil Benchin, you're crazy. Well, maybe I am. You don't know I ain't neither, crazy. You know as well as I do, it's towns like Cederton that runs right with wars and rumors of wars. A man's got to be on the lookout. Oh, yes, sure. Open your mouth. Well... And don't talk. Oh, just saying. A chief of police like me has got to keep his weather. Oh, sir, mighty doctor. I wonder if that sprain you give me is going to do any good. I sure will do you good. But you can't expect miracles. When a man's as careless as you are, Bill, gallivanting around in weather like this, he's got to expect nature to take its course. I'll give you a box of these colors, too. You take one every 15 minutes for two hours, then one every hour. All right. Thanks, guy. Just a minute, Bill. Hello. Yes? This is Dr. Adams. Where is this? Hello. How are you? Yes, he's here. It's for you, Bill. Huh? For me? Well, I gave Hotchkicks. He's the only person who knows I come up here. Well, that's who it is. Go ahead and answer. Oh, yeah. Sure. Hello. Yeah? Yeah. Just a second, David. All right, go ahead. What? Well, where'd she go? All right, all right. I'll come right down to the station. My gosh, Doc. What's the trouble? Oh, that little guppy girl's gone one way again. No. Her father's down to the station house now. Gabe says he's mighty excited. Been looking for her ever since supper time. Watch me organize a posse and go out to hunting party for her. What do you do in the rest of the evening, Doc? Come along. I'll join the posse if that's what you mean. Hey, kid, Doc. All right. Oh, gosh, mighty. If I ever go duck hunting in the rain again, I hope somebody suits me. They won't have to. You'll die in ammonia. Oh, now, Doc, you shouldn't all of a sudden... Mr. Guppy. Good evening. All right, now, Mr. Guppy, let's get to the bottom of this. When did your little girl disappear? Just before supper. She was out in her little playhouse, as we thought. But when her mother went to call up her supper, she wasn't there. Uh-huh. You ain't had no note, have you? No, too. What do you mean, note? I'm kidding. Oh, no, of course not. She's done this before. She's just run off by herself. But she's never gone away from home, as far as this. Up to now, every time she's run away, we've been able to find her right close at some neighbor's house. I reckon the only thing... I reckon the only thing to do is to split up in four directions and start out looking for her. Mr. Guppy, you and Jim Hoskins go off the south road as far as the old mill. All right. And Gabe, you take Mr. McGinnis and go off the canyon road as far as Miller's Lake. And be sure and ask Griff Miller as he's seen anything with a little girl. Okay. And then you, Ferguson, you and Joe Little go off the main highway toward Dunlap. And as far as Dunlap, Junction, if you have to. Doc, you and me will go down by the track. All right. Now, whoever finds her first, come back here to the station house and start the siren. Keep it going until all the pasta comes back. Understand? All right, man. Get going. And don't you worry, Mr. Guppy. We'll find little... Oh, oh, oh, by the way, what's her name? So we can call her. Esther. Esther. All right, all right. Get in your way, man, and good luck. Come on, Doc. Don't seem natural. No, the youngsters have been doing it for generations, Bill. I know, but it seems like there must be something to matter. They don't like about our home to go meandering away like that. There is. Well, what is it? Hey, listen, it ain't cool to resist. Because if there is, there's a log in there. Oh, no, Bill. They treat the little girl all right. It's themselves. Themselves? Yep. Esther. Ain't the same ever yet. Well, come on, Doc. We might as well keep moving. What was I saying? Oh, yes. You always are going to tell me what's wrong up to the guffees. That would make Little Esther run away. Oh, what's that? Well, I'll show you. Oh, now, Doc. I should ought to know these things. I, as chief of police, a seater, shouldn't ought to be in and all the angles of the town. Oh, you should, eh? Why, sure. That was how I would ever have any basis for clues. Clues for what? Clues for... Well, I don't know what's going to come up. You know that, Doc. I just mean that the more angles a man has on people, the better he can reconstruct a mystery. All right. I see. Well, come on, Doc. Tell me what's wrong up to the guffees. Bill? Oh, tell me what's wrong up to the guffees. Bill? Are you taking those pellets I gave you? Gosh, I might even know, Doc. I forgot all about them here. I'll take five of them all at once. No, no, no, Bill. That'll be worse than none at all. Just take one every 15 minutes, as I told you. All right. You're the doctor, as the caller says. That's Pellar again. See, I think the rain doesn't have a mite, Doc. Yeah, appears to be. Well, go ahead, Doc. No. What do you mean? Tell me about the guffees. Bill Benson, you're the snoopingist, nosiest old gossip I've ever seen. You're the worst old meddler in Cedarson. Yeah, I guess I am, Doc. I guess I am. Well, that's what makes me a good chief of police, I reckon. Well, let's call her again, Doc. Esther Guppy! Doc, I don't think she could have come all this way by herself, not that little five-year-old girl. Well, I don't know, Bill. She might have. We don't want to give up till we hear that siren. Besides, that 820-pound limit will be pounding through here pretty soon, and I don't seem to get myself all clogged up with cinders and dust. Well, you go back, Bill. I think I'll keep on for a little ways. Huh? Huh? Me go back? Well, don't talk crazy, Doc, as long as you... Listen. Yep, yep, there she comes. The 820. She'll be around in Salt Mountain right now. Be here in about five minutes. And there's the canyon trestle right ahead of us. Well, now let's stand over in that base. Hey, look. What's the matter? What do you see, Doc? Out there on the trestle, the moon just came out a little then, and I think that. Yeah, it is. Of course. Gosh, I see her now, Doc. It's a little Guffey girl. Come on. Wait, Doc. Listen, you can't get out there on that trestle and get back again before the 820 comes in. You can't do it, Doc. Yes, I can, and I'm going to do it. No, no, no. Yes, sir. Yes, sir, Guffey. You stay right there where you are. Don't move till I get... No, Doc. No. Tell her to run towards you. And have her get caught in the tides. Oh, no. Stay right there, Mr. Oh, my gosh. Doc, you can't make it. The 820 just ran in the bin. Doc Adams, you come back here. I'll see if I can leave the seat. Can't hear me. No, you'll never make it. He's got a hold of her. But he can't get back up all that time. Gosh, I'm sorry. He's got... What's the problem? There was a little girl out there on that trestle. Doc Adams, he went out there and got her. He jumped into the creek with her just before you come onto the trestle. He's down there now. Come on. I don't want to see anybody. No, Lou. You just tell them that I'm... Well, I had to go down to Dunlap or something. Tell them I'm laid up with Pursy or Bronkill pneumonia. Tell them anything, Lou. But gosh, it's a Friday for my sake. Don't let them come down here. I don't want to see anybody about what happened last night. Well, thanks, Lou. Somebody's just coming in. I'll have to hang up now. Yes. Yes, I'll be home for lunch. Goodbye. Well, how'd he do? Oh, good morning, Bill. Doc, there's a gentleman here who'd like to say something to you. Oh, is that so? Who is it? Oh, good morning, Mr. Guffy. Dr. Adams, there isn't much that a man in my position this morning can say to a man in yours. Oh, well... But I just want to tell you this. Mrs. Guffy and I aren't given very much to religion. But last night after our little girl was tucked away safely in bed, her mother and I knelt down in the dark and thanked God that there are heroes like you in the world. Mr. Guffy, any man on that posse would have done the same thing. I... Well, thanks for what you've just said. It means more to me than you can know. Well, I was just on my way out to make a call and I... Excuse me, I got a little wet last night. Well, what do you laugh at? Here, Doc, have a pellet. Any man that's crazy enough to go gallivanting around and getting himself all soaked and wet in a creek has got to expect nature to take its course. Bill Benson, you old fool. This is the family doctor. This is the family doctor. I'll be in to see you again right soon. Goodbye.