 starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince, specially transcribed tales of the dark and tragic ground of the wild frontier, the saga of fighting men who rode the rim of empire, and the dramatic story of Lee Quince, Captain of Cavalry. Oh, Sergeant. These men are answering surgeon's call. Atkin, Chapman, Furnace, Harrison, Holt, Hook, Horner, Madison, Miller, Shaw, Rice. Hold it, Sergeant. It's reading like a roll call of B company. It's close to that, sir. Oh, how many total? 26. Yesterday, it was 18. That's right, sir. This keeps up we won't have a man answering fatigue call or guard mountain another couple of days. What's the matter with B company, Sergeant? I don't know, sir. You ask the men? I figure that's a job for the post-surgeon. Yeah, I'll be interested in the hospital reports. All right, that's all, Sergeant. Yes, sir. Sergeant Gores. Yes, sir? Is your name on that list by any chance? No, sir. Are you Alyn? No, sir. You sure? Yes, sir. I'm sure. All right, Sergeant. That's all. Yes, sir. F company, 14 men on surgeon's call. D company, 19. B company, 26. At this rate, we can hold a more morning's drill on the hospital grounds. He's got most of the garrison over there, all right? B company seems to be suffering the most, Captain. Any explanations? Not till I see the surgeon's report. I went over to the hospital right after fatigue call. Major Trucks was too busy to talk. He said in a couple hours he'd know something. 59 men begin to look like an epidemic. Maybe. You have some reservation about it? Well, it depends on what you call an epidemic. An epidemic of real sickness, anyway. Real sickness? I'm saying maybe they're just bored. And I'm saying if they are, it's a hard sickness to cure. You cure boredom with activity, Captain. Lots of it. Different activity, Major Daggett. What do you mean? Well, take B company. We haven't been off the garrison for nearly two months. The days are all alike. The men do the same things, the same way, day after day. Army life depends on routine, Captain. Because it's the most efficient way to organize men. That's right. When that efficiency begins to break down, do you stick to the routine just because it's the army way? Of course not. Well, that's what I mean by different activity. Well, let's look at our routine, Captain. First call for revelies at 5.20. Reveille at 5.30. Breakfast call 5.40. First call for drill 6.10. Drill 6.15 to 7.15. Recall from drill. Then surgeons call, fatigue call. Any changes so far? We might make some in fatigue call. If they don't clean up the post then, when would they do it? They clean the post for four hours before dinner and three hours before supper. That's a lot of redden up. Yeah, it is. But relieving some of the men isn't the answer. They could change off. Bindle can always use some help with the sawmill and the chaplain is an awful busy man, tending the post-garden by himself most of the time. Mm-hmm. That's something to think about. Of course, we don't know yet if we're battling an epidemic of boredom. No. No, we don't. You going over to the hospital? Yeah, I thought I would. Tell Major Trucks I know he's been busy, but he hasn't found his receipts of canned goods shipments from the east for a month now. He's holding up our paperwork. Canned goods? Fruit, some vegetables, saltfish. You've been getting any fruit or vegetables to eat? No, but we're being billed for it. Apparently it's been sent here. That's Major Trucks' department. You just tell them I need receipts. All right, Major. Morning, chaplain. Morning, Captain Quintz. Looks like you need to pick more in a shovel. We need rain worse. I don't think the Lord means for me to have a garden sometimes. Garden, chaplain? Well, and potatoes, anyway. And hardy as they are, they don't grow well in hard pant. The Major was talking about putting garden detail and fatigue call. I guess you could use some help. He spoke of it just this morning? Just a few minutes ago. Thought you could use a hand. A hand? Just a few minutes ago, I put my shovel aside, looked up and said aloud, let thine hand help me, for I have chosen thy precepts. I don't know your belief, Captain, but mine rests strongly on the power of prayer. Well, now, this help, chaplain, it wouldn't be altogether unselfish. Oh, no help is altogether unselfish. We were thinking the men might spark a little to garden detail. A lot of them come from farms. I've watched them come over here to the hospital from drill. Some of them, just boys and their teens shuffling along like sick old men. I wonder if gardening is the answer. Man, I'm hoping Major Trucks is finding that out right now. Have any of them complained to you, chaplain? Complained? Well, if they're not sick, if they're just tired, if they've got a belly full of the army, they'd be likely to tell you. Some of them would? Well, it would help if we knew. Captain, the men who seek me out know that their conversations are held in highest confidence. Well, I'm not asking you to break faith with them, chaplain, but this sickness, whatever it is, is growing. You think it's a morale problem? I've seen it happen. It's as effective as typhoid for making men useless if it gets a hold. I can promise you this, Captain. I won't give you any names. But if I get more than my share of men telling me they've got a belly full, as you say, I'll see the major hears about it. You'll be seeing the sick later? And praying for them? Well, luck with your potato patch. Thank you, Captain. That's right, men. Put them as close together as you can. We need as many cots as we can get in the corridor. You got an emergency on your hands, major trucks? I've got a 12-bed ward and 59 patients, Captain. You had time to figure what it is that's laying so many men low? I'm not through examining them all. So far, it could be 59 separate ailments, or two, or one. Anything I can do? You can get me a bigger hospital. The ward's full. I'm using the dining room, the isolation rooms, and the orderly rooms. Now I can set up cots. You got plenty? So far. The major knows about this, does he? He knows there's 59 men on surgeons' call. What does he say? He's waiting for your report. He's got a long wait coming. Mentioned some other paperwork, receipts for canned goods. Just got here this morning. First shipments we've had in five weeks. Fruit, vegetables, salt fish? Not unpacked yet. Hasn't been time. Must have been some shipments that didn't get through. Major says he's been billed for over a month now. It's happened before. Trains and stages sometimes they're well-aid. Captain, you got some time? Lots of time. Let's go to the storage room and pack that canned goods. Oh, I can handle it. No need you're leaving the men. Might be nothing more important for me to do right now than unpack that food. We need help, though. All right. I'll round up what I can and meet you at the storage room. No label on this batch. What carton did these cans come from, Sergeant? Sergeant? I don't know, sir. Well, any way of finding out? I'm just unloading crates, sir. I ain't paying any mind to labels. Open this can for me, Sergeant. You tired, too, Captain? Open it. I'll get it, Gorse. Couldn't seem to hold it fast. Here, I'll try it again. Here, Gorse, wait a minute. Gorse, are you sick? I'm tired. Maybe sick and tired. I don't know. I'm going back to my quarters, Captain. I just can't keep it. Gorse, what is up? Major Trout? What's going to him? He got to Trimlin, said he was going back to his quarters, and then he walked right into a stack of crates. Yeah, let's have a look. Major, Major, he'd breathe in? His pulse is very slow. You, you talked to him just before this happened? Yeah, he said he was tired. I knew that. He's been dragging for the past week. Gorse, don't drag Major Trexless. There's something real wrong with him. I got him in just like an upstairs in the ward, played out exhausted. He couldn't lift a tin can. Besides being so tired, did he seem changed? Act different? You mean like he didn't care? Yes, insolent, insubordinate even. Well, for him, yeah. Weaver, Nelson, take the sergeant up to the isolation room. Tell Major to see he's comfortable. Captain, come on outside a minute. What about Gorse? If I told you that whole shipment of canned food spoiled, would that seem like an answer? About Gorse? No, it wouldn't. You, you can't be talking about food poisoning. No one's eating any of that canned food. Not food poisoning. We can handle that. Captain, the men up there in the hospital, 60 of them now with Sergeant Gorse, some of them got pain, some haven't. Some are bleeding, some aren't. A few of them are complaining of their teeth. And some of them, like Gorse, aren't complaining. They're just sitting or laying and staring straight ahead. I was willing to call it boredom. Made a big speech to Major Daggett about changing their routine, lifting their morale, maybe helping the chaplain with his garden. I wish they were bored. I'd give anything if they were. Captain, I'm scared to death. Oh, you'll find out what it is you always do. I know what it is. All those men with different complaints, they all have the same thing. In different stages, it's scurvy. Yeah. I've been afraid of it. That's why I requisitioned the canned fruit and vegetables. They'd have helped if we could use them. Scurvy being what it is, a deficiency disease. It's just about the easiest thing in the world to cure. All you've got to do is feed the patients plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Now look at the chaplain's garden. Potatoes, not many of them. That's the trouble with the high planes. Short seasons, too much rain, too little, too cold in winter, too hot in summer. My men major, if we can't get them the right food, they'll die, Captain. There won't be a thing we can do but let them. Reply from Fort Fettemann, Captain. Regret no fresh vegetables or fruit here sending patrol to ranches in area not hopeful. Fettemann's too close. We can't raise vegetables, they can't. Who else here, telegraph lieutenant? Fort Sanders, Camp Brown, Fort Bridger. Camp Brown's over in the Wind River range. Bridger's at least 100 miles further. Well, sir, Major Daggett said to try them all. They're too far away. I know that, sir. Sure you do, Mr. Cybert, but keep trying. I will, sir. And any word you get, no matter where it's from, don't turn any of it down. Yes, sir. Captain? Yeah? Sir, I've read a lot about Scurvy. What causes it, what cures it. It can be cured. With the right food. The British Navy practically wiped it out as long ago as 1795, so there is hope, Captain. Wiped it out? How, Mr. Cybert? Lime juice? Yeah, lime juice. Yes, sir. They made it a regulation. Each man was served a specific quantity of lime juice each day, and the threat of Scurvy to ship crews just vanished. Mr. Cybert, slimes are kind of hard to come by in the high plains. Well, I just thought if you knew there was hope, you'd feel better about things, Captain. I'm not the one to worry about. I know, sir, but. But. But thanks, Lieutenant. And if you hear about any lines, even as far away as Fort Bridger, then don't turn them down. The last two settlers have spoken of a huckster, Captain, of a man who's been through here selling eggs and fresh vegetables. No, five days ago, Captain. He could be anywhere by now. The last settler said five days, the one before said six. We're getting closer to it. You still praying, Captain? Of course. You're long on hope, aren't you, sir? You call it hope, Captain. My word is faith. But the word doesn't matter. I'm long on it, yes. I've built my life on it. Another settler had, and a fortunate settler, too. That stream is life to him. Lodgefold Crick. It's a better day, Captain. I'll take your word for that. No, no, even for a realist, it's a better day. We sent two sacks of onions back to Fort Laramie this morning. We didn't do that yesterday. All right, chaplain. It's a better day. Patrol. Good afternoon, mister. Good afternoon to you, soldiers. We're down from Fort Laramie looking for fresh fruit, vegetables. Oh, you've got a good bit of luck in the head of you, soldier. Got potatoes. We got potatoes, too. I had some corn. But then, you know, my woman took sick. And the caring for her, the corn went bad. Dried out. It makes a good fire, though, the dried corn. I've been using it to cook with it. Saving the logs, are you? Oh, for winter. You know, it's cold as sin up here in the winters. I don't lay in dry logs now. My woman will just freeze this winter. She's in the cabin, your wife. She ain't moved out of that cabin there in more than a month. Well, would you mind if I went in to see her? Say, you some kind of doctor? This is our chaplain, post-chaplain at Fort Laramie. Chaplain. That's like a parson, you know? Like a parson, mister. She's a god-fearing woman. You know, you'll find that book there. It's right beside the bed. And it just might ease her some talking to a parson. There's time, captain. You know what you have to do, chaplain. Corporal Jenkins. Yes, sir. Move the patrol down to the stream. We'll water the horses while we're stopped. Yes, sir. It's just a pity you didn't come through here a couple of days ago, soldier, because a huckster come through. I don't know if he had any fruit, but he had himself a big load of vegetables. Yeah, we've been hearing about it. If I had had the price, I'd have stocked up for the woman in me, but oh, they come high. They come too high. Heading south, was he? Yeah, he said he was bound for Cheyenne. Maybe they can meet his price in town, that way, but it's too steep for a nester. See, I had my eye in some old stalks he had that was going to seed the oars, and I figured for plantain, you know? But he just wasn't a mind to trade nothing. He said he'd let them spoil before he cut his price. Oh, you're trying to trade potatoes? He wouldn't hear to that. No, sir. I was willing to trade him. Say, soldier, you got thirst? I mean, a real thirst? Yeah? Yeah, that parson, he's going to be a while. You come along with me and keep it in the cellar, you know, now that my woman don't use it for storing what she puts up. What are you talking about, mister? Oh, you'll see. You'll see here now. I'll just keep it right back here. Now, mind your feet. There's a sod step or two, and it's pitch dark. Whereas once we get there, dark sure don't matter. Damp down here, kind of musty. Oh, it's all right. You ain't got a complaint in the world. No, we're there. See what we're looking for? You don't have to see. Help yourself, soldier. What is that, corn whiskey? Corn whiskey. I don't have the patience for that. I told you anyways, I had to burn my corn. No, sir. This is hard cider. Here. No, no, no, you drink it. I mean to. It's just more neighborly if you take a swig first. Come on, get on with it. I'm dry as a bone. I'm not too keen on hard cider. Oh, you're thinking about the other man. Well, now, soldier, this here little jug, this wouldn't make the rounds in a hot day like this. All right. Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. That hits a spot, don't it? That's pure vinegar. Vinegar? Oh, I call that right picayune, my way of thinking. Here, give me that jug. I got a better feeling for it. That smooth. Swigging that now and again. Just make a man forget his lot in life. Now, wait a minute. How much of that you got, mister? Oh, yeah, that kind of grows on you, don't it? You know what? That's going to make you feel better once you come out of the coffin. No, I want to know how much you got. Oh, I got a good bit of it. I make this up every year whether there's need or not. I do. My woman, now, she just can't understand how there's no crocs around. Praise be, I got it put up in pickle barrels in all sizes, jugs up and down. Oh, buy it from me, all of it. At a fair price. Well, now, we could use the money. All of it? Yeah, buy it all and give you back two jugs. Fair? Praise be, soldier. I'd done a sight of praying, but I never figured. Not quite, sir. Are you down there? I'm coming right up, chaplain. Well, mister? Well, I don't see how I can rightly refuse. You'll pay for what you give me back, huh? You set a price. I'll talk to you later. Looking for you down at the stream. Captain, our prayers have been answered. All along the stream, both sides. You're wild berries, raspberries, currants, blackberries, all kinds. Of course. The men are picking them now. We'll take back all we can carry, and I'm selecting some strong young bushes to transplant along the North Platte. You're very pleased, aren't you? I'm more hysterical than anything. And that good woman in the cabin says the Indians on the Cheyenne agency grow asparagus and rhubarb like it was buffalo grass. Captain, have you been drinking? I sure have, chaplain. Vinegar. Vinegar? Well, the settler calls it hard cider, and maybe it was once, but it's sure pure vinegar now. Vinegar? Why, major trucks said vinegar could be a help in arresting the tide of scurvy. Yeah, he did. I'm buying all the settlers got. You're certain it's vinegar, because if it isn't, I'd have to search my soul. The chaplain takes my word. It's vinegar. And look on it this way. God moves in a mysterious way. His wonder is to perform. I guess. Yes, captain, I believe I will. That's you, captain. What does it look like, a stack of crates? Yeah. You still playing at being a sick man, Gorse? It's a good life. Beats being a first sergeant. A bee company can still use one. Anytime you want to give up your act here and come back. I ain't coming back as a first sergeant this time, captain. I've been doing a lot of dreaming about that. You know, we might break down a stripe or two, seeing you probably couldn't handle the work anyway. You just keep talking, captain. I'll keep dreaming. You'll see, I'm coming back at least a major, maybe even a colonel. Going to take over the post now, are you? No, no, just bee company. Just for a day or two, long enough to get a captain busted out. I never counted on your gratitude. You might get a captain for bee company who don't go around foistin' vinegar on a sick man. In the name of hard cider. You're talking out of a fever. I'm going to tell major trucks to keep you here if it isn't too hard on the rest of the ward. Go on, um, go back to your dream. Captain? Yeah. Thanks. You get well. One day we'll, uh, go back and thank that settler. Company tension. Dismiss. For information on the program, write the Veterans Administration, Washington 25 D.C. 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