 There's just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that's with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gun smoke. United States Marshal, the first man they look for and the last they want to meet. It's a chancey job, and it makes a man watchful. And a little lonely. Up to Miss Kitty? Yes. This man's uncommon anxious to see the Marshal. You know where he is? Well, no, Samadone. Have you tried his office, mister? Of course I've tried his office. They told me he was headed here. Well, it may be, but I haven't seen him until now. Hey, Matt. Matt, this man's waiting to see you. Oh, is that so? Can you use the Marshal? Yeah, I'm the Marshal, Matt Dillon. My name is Foss Marshal, Jasper Foss. All right, Mr. Foss, what can I do for you? I figured you'd ought to know about the telegraph line. Oh, what telegraph line? Well, why, the one just strung out west of town. Oh, what about it? Well, somebody's cut it. That's what about it. Well, how do you know? I was riding past. That's all I know. About a mile or a mile and a half out. Did you see anybody? Oh, nobody I could recognize. I'd seen a horse, eye-tailed in the distance. I couldn't tell no more than that. When was this? Oh, an hour ago, maybe. I figured you'd want to take a look around. Yeah, thanks, Mr. Foss. I guess I'd better. Army believes the only good. Army believes the only good. I know this man, Colonel. Small Hawk is not a troublemaker. He cut it only once. Right out and cut the wire again. All the confidence in his Indian, Marshal. There's a couple of braves standing around watching him. He could tell it to them, I guess. Why? Send the telegrams. Small Hawk does not trust bad magic. Magic in the wire? It's one thing. Yeah, what's that? Who's going to pay for it? You or the... Now, Marshal, that kind of money ain't easy to collect. I know that better than you. I'm surprised you have to order it like us ordinary people. Why, from what Chester's been telling me, you've been working magic tricks with the telegram lines. Oh. Chester thinks that's pretty funny, doesn't he? No, it's not exactly funny, Matt. He was really pretty impressed. Yeah. Well, I hope it worked, that's all. I'm surprised you could talk that starchy Colonel into letting Small Hawk go. Oh, you know the Colonel? Well, I met him once. I never figured him to give anybody any kind of chance. Much less an Indian. Maybe he wants to be able to say, I told you so. Yeah. You'd enjoy that. I know that much. Oh, hello, Marshal. How are you, Foss? Found I was right about that wire, didn't you? Yeah. Been wanting to talk to you about that. I'll see you later. No, there's no need for you to leave, Kitty. I want to see Sam. All right. What's on your mind today, Mr. Foss? Well, I just wanted to tell you, you ought to be keeping an eye on things. Oh. What happens to be my job? Well, sometimes doing a good job ain't enough, Marshal. Sometimes a man can get food even so. Is that so? Yes, sir. Now, I done a good job. All my life I done a good job, but it weren't enough. You've got to remember that now. It weren't enough. What happened to you? Why? They let me go, Marshal Dillon. Said I wasn't good enough no more. Said I was too old. Put in some young green horn that won't even know as much as I've already forgot. Uh-huh. They just turned me out overnight like I was an old, broke down horse. I'm sorry about that, Mr. Foss. Well, they had no right to do a thing like that. I'm a better man than that young fellow, Marshal Dillon. And I'm going to show them about too. Yeah, you do that, Mr. Foss. Well, I got to be getting back to the office. Oh, yeah, you go tend to your job, Marshal. And watch out for that Indian. Oh, you leave that to me, huh? I ain't worrying about him, Marshal Dillon. No, not at all. You got to come up with a seven or a three. Well, let me see here, man. You have to go to the Boneyide. Yeah. Go ahead. All right, I'm drawn, Doc. Go ahead. Take another. Oh, I must say, Matthew, you don't play dominoes. Any better than you play chickens. You're talking pretty big for a man who just won his first game this week. Well, it's not whether I win or not, Matt. It's just that I make the moves better. I hope you don't figure like that about your patience. About my patience? Well, it doesn't matter whether you cure him or not. Move. Oh, don't you worry about my patience. I'll take it. Oh, how's your Indian getting along? Oh, fine, I guess. I think I finally got it through his head that the telegraph wire wasn't strung up there just to work some black magic. You were lucky. Yeah, Doc, I guess I was. Have you seen him? No, but he had the agent out at the other end and sent me a message back. Oh, is that so? What'd he say? Just one word. The telegraph company isn't going to make much money out of him at that rate. Maybe not, but it'll save him money having him leave their lines along. Oh, hold on. Yeah, Chester. That's a trouble. Don't you know that fellow Ted Creel? Yeah, I know him. What's he done? Well, he ain't done nothing. He's done. He just came in from out west of town. Well, no law against that. Well, of course not, Mr. Dill. But he told me he's seen a trooper cow right from the fork. What about it? They had an Indian with them all tied up like he was a prisoner. Well, he thought he was that fellow small-hawk, Mr. Dill. Yeah, I was afraid he might. Like your magic might not have worked. That's true, man. I'll be in my office. Cut off the door, though, dude. Like somebody was laid up. Happened to be out there? It's only right that I've been keeping track of that line. I've been here 25 years sending messages out over lines just like them. I got an interest in them, you might say. That's what your job was, sending messages? I had a mighty nice touch on the key. A mighty nice touch. These green horns can come close to it. Without one draw, all right. A man with a touch like mine. I guess you would have an interest in the line, Mr. Fenton, seeing that it didn't go through. Well, Marshall, I don't even know what you're talking about. I think you've been cutting that wire right regularly. I think you figured it was a way to get back at the people who cost you your job. Now, you hold on a minute, Marshall. What about that Indian? He was the one that cut it. He said so. He cut it once, Mr. Fawes, and he admitted it, but you did it the other day. It wouldn't matter anymore. It mattered to the Indian. Climbing around them lines and all... Inviting you to join us again next week when CBS Radio presents another story on Gunsmoke.