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I almost caught him this morning. At least twice I got close enough to put a bullet in his leg, but it didn't stop him. He's dangerous, Marshal, and I want your help taking him. What do you want him for? A break? Murder? Kill a fellow called Dobie on his ranch near Mingo. Well, here. Here, Marshal, I got a warrant for him. That's what the sheriff made me. He wanted somebody to go after Hank Springer and I took the job. Now that's one way of doing it. Why didn't the sheriff come after him himself? Well, he didn't want to bother. Anyway, he's going to give me $50 when I get back with Hank. He did it alive. So the sheriff up at Mingo will pay somebody, most anybody, $50 to do his work for him. That's his business, Marshal. Well, then why don't you go arrest this Hank Springer? You got a warrant? You're a deputy? No, he's laying up in that room, armed and hurt, and he ain't going to take easy. You're a U.S. Marshal, and you got to help me. Well, maybe there'll be less trouble if I do. Chester, go get Doc Adams. One man's already been shot. We won't need you to the shooting zone. You stay back, too, huh, Chester? Yes, sir. Marshal, I want to talk to you. Put it out of your leg as soon as you open this door. Listen to me. Fighting the law won't help you. But if you didn't kill Doby, all you have to do is go back and prove where you were when it happened. I didn't kill him, Marshal. I expect them like you did. Nothing's going to happen to you if you're innocent. They can't hang you without you proving you did it. Take this man back without handcuffing him, can't you? Marshal, you might try something new. Get out of the way, Brick. Right through the flesh and out here. I'll just clean it up a little bit and take a few stitches. How soon will you be able to travel, Doc? Well, early on away a couple of days. I want to get back to Mingo. This man will leave when I say he's ready. And not before. He's my prisoner, ain't he? You heard him, Brick. Another thing, you made a promise you wouldn't put handcuffs on him. See that you keep it. Well, sure, Marshal, of course I will. I'll be over at the OK stable for a couple of hours. I told Kitty I'd look at a horse she's thinking about buying. OK, sir. You better keep an eye on things here for a while. You know where to find me for as many troubles. Almost 100 years ago, Charles Kingsley wrote that tobacco is a lone man's companion, a bachelor's friend, a hungry man's food, a sad man's cordial, a wakeful man's sleep, and a chilly man's fire. These words describe what Chesterfield means to millions of smokers today. You and I smoke for relaxation, for comfort, for satisfaction, and in the whole wide world, no cigarette satisfies like a Chesterfield. Only Chesterfield has the right combination of the world's best tobaccos, highest in quality, low in nicotine, best for you. Buy them King's Eyes at the new low price, or regular. Get a carton of Chesterfields today. Right, very often, why don't you rent a horse when you want one? Because I want to own a horse. What's the point of working if you can't own something now and then? Okay, Kitty. All right, now start at $25 and don't give them a dollar more than $30. You mean I gotta get into one of those horse trading affairs? Will you spend a whole day sitting on your heels and scratching up the dirt with a straw? Can I think of a million ways to avoid coming right up with what you're really there for? No, thanks. I can make $10 faster than that. All right, all right, Kitty. I'll try to make the deal for you. Oh, wait a minute. If they're all, I'm a woman. Maybe I can get them a little confused, you know? I'll bet I can buy that horse for $20. Hey, Chester, how do you like my new horse? Fine, Miss Kitty, fine, but I don't have time to look at him now. Oh, it's a matter, Chester. Well, it's Hank's friend, Mr. Dillon. What happened, you see? I went downstairs to cool myself off with a couple of beers, and when I got back to his room, he was gone. Gone? Yes, sir. Doc had already left, and I was only away for about an hour. I had a feeling something was going to happen. Well, where's Brake? Wasn't he watching him? Well, that's the bad part of it. Brake's there all right, but he's dead. What? I took a good look at him, Mr. Dillon. There's no burt hole in him, but his neck's all swollen. Well, Hank's finger choked him to death with his bare hands. That's what. No wonder he wanted Brake to promise not to handcuff him. And another thing, Mr. Dillon, when I asked the clerk, he remembered seeing Hank run out and grab a horse from the hitching rail. Well, he's got a good start on us. See you when we got back, Kitty. There was no way of telling how good a horse Hank Springer had stolen from the hitching rail, but Chester and I had mounts that we'd trained for this sort of a ride. And about dust, the sign on his trail told us that we were getting closer to it. It was just after dark when we spotted a campfire and a cottonwood crow. We slowed down as we rode up to it. Gee, you'd make an awful good ambush, Mr. Dillon. Yeah. I don't see nobody around that far. I tell you, I wouldn't have shot it here if I could have seen who it was. You can't blame me, not with a man like that running loose. Look, Mr., I'm on the trail of a murderer. A man named Hank Springer. He's a young fella, and he's got a bad leg. He's a murderer, sure enough. He killed my partner not over now or ago. What? My partner's lying in them bushes over there. I wrapped him up in his saddle blanket so I could bury him tomorrow. Well, how did it happen? We was cooking something to eat, and that trailer rode up and wanted to treat horses. My partner said no. But Springer got down and said he'd take the horse anyway, and my partner tried to stop him. Well, he got shot that way, and now he's dead. Springer rode north, didn't he? Yes. And I'll tell you something else. The horse he took ain't gonna carry him far. That horse got his lungs crossed last winter. Well, that'll help. There's a cabin five miles straight ahead, the way he was going. He can't get no further than that. All them people got there is a bulky old mule. Good. I'm sorry about your partner, Mr., but we'll try to catch Springer before he kills anybody else. Come on, Chester. There was no moon that night, and it was pitch dark, so we had to guess and ride on the street. But we managed pretty well, and in about an hour we saw the lights of a cabin off to our left. We rode over, left our horses a hundred yards from it, and then went the rest of the way on foot. We could hear voices inside, so we sneaked up to the... It's Hang Springer, Mr. Hill, and it's him right now. There ain't no reason why I should lie to you. My husband should have been back before this, but it won't do you no good when he does come. You won't get far on that mule always. What's wrong with your mule? Nothing, except for being ordinary and stubborn. I'll get him over that fast enough. You can have the mule, Mr. I don't care about that. But don't hurt my husband, please. Well, lady, I don't want to hurt nobody, unless they get in my way like some has done lately. You're an awful man. Never you mind. Look, when your other walks in here, don't you give me a wave. All I ask is you don't shoot him. Chester won't shoot him. He starts it, but he ain't gonna get you. We better do something quick for her husband. Get back to Chanel. Hey there, Chester. If that woman's at all smart, it might work. What? You get out there in front of the cabin, but far enough away so nobody can see you. And then you yell for her. Yell for her? Pretend you're her husband. Never to come out and give you a hand with a mule. Well, what do I call her? I don't know her name. Call her wife or woman, anything like that. It doesn't matter. She'll know it isn't her husband. What are you bad at? Fight against the wall by the front door. You won't trust her to come out alone. And when he comes out, I'll take him. Or I'll get going. Captain Dean's is all I got around here, mister. Could eat some of that. Hey, what? Come on, come on. You walked into it like a... Really coming back tonight? Yes, he is, Marshal. Well, we'll spend the night here. If you lure that mule in the morning, I'm gonna see what he does. Cigarette smokers in America who smoke many brands. In choosing your cigarette, be sure to remember this. You will like Chesterfield best because only Chesterfield has the right combination of the world's best tobacco. Highest in quality for you. You and I smoke for relaxation, for comfort, for satisfaction. And in the whole wide world, no cigarette satisfies like a Chesterfield. Yes, you'll get the greatest possible pleasure from a cigarette when you choose Chesterfield. The right combination of the world's best tobacco. Highest in quality, low in nicotine. Therefore, best for you. Buy them king size at the new low price, or regular. Get a carton of Chesterfields today. Sit up next morning. And it took us two days to get to Mingo. But not so much because of the mule as because of Hank Springer's leg. I was willing to stop and let him ease it for a day or so, but he said no. He'd rather get the ride over with. Beyond that, however, he didn't say anything until we rode into town. Mingo was a small place and out of the way of the cattle trails so it was as quiet and peaceful as any frontier town could be. Sheriff's office, across the street. Okay. No use to stop there, though. Sheriff, don't use it much. Most of the time he's gambling over to the Golden Girl. That's it. The Golden Girl down the street there, see? I'm not turning any prisoner over to a sheriff at a gambling table. You ride on my head, Chester, and tell him to come outside. I'll try. I'll do it. No time to tell me. There's something I'm sure curious about. You can ask me, Marshall. Why in the world did you head back up here? Learn Jim Powell. Who's Jim Powell? I figured it out, Marshall. It was him that killed Dobie. Well, you can tell him that in court. I guess it doesn't matter much what I think, does it? Oh, yes, sir. Well, I can prove I didn't do it. Then why did you run in the first place? Well, I knew he was after me. I got scared. Shouldn't have, but I did. I'll take charge of Hank Springer now. Look, I'm going to get a fair trial. Ain't I sure? The murderers, Hank. I don't care about that buffalo hunter, but killing breaks a different matter. He was my deputy. Well, if you hadn't picked a coward for a deputy, I wouldn't have had to kill him. He was a coward and a liar bull. Wait a minute. What are you saying, Hank? Well, promise me, he wouldn't put no handcuffs on me. He swore he wouldn't in you, Marshall. He did? Well, he got scared and he busted his word. I went crazy when he put them things on me, Marshall. And then I got the key. I took them handcuffs off and threw them away. You're a fool, Hank. If you'd have come back peaceful with break, you'd be a free man right now. You mean you found out it was Jim Powell that killed Dobie? Of course I did. Jim Powell got real drunk the other day and started bragging. Me and a couple other fellas got him in jail and he confessed as soon as he sobered up. I knew you didn't do it, Hank. I knew it all along. Well, then why was you saying I did? Why'd you come looking for me? Well, you just had to stick it under somebody, didn't you? I should have figured that knowing you. You're going to hang now anyway. What difference does it make? Well, oh, you'll be glad to see me hang, won't you, sir? I never did like you, Hank. That's why I picked you in the first place. Hank. What, Marshall? I, uh, I've changed my mind. About what? About turning you over to this rotten, worthless sheriff. You can't talk like that. Shut up! Hank hasn't committed any crime around here, so I'm taking him back to Dodge for trial. He's my prisoner, Marshall. You can't cheat me out of him. I got a right to him. You've got nothing. And sheriff or no sheriff, I've been to the six gun across your head if I hear any more out of you. All right, let's go, Hank. All right, thank you, Marshall. I'd like that. Just fine with it. First, Marshall, I want to go over to jail there. I'll tell Jim Powell I don't bear him no grudge for letting him chase me before he talked, because he might feel bad about it, especially the trouble I'm in now. Oh, that's decent of you, Hank. I'll let you jail, sheriff. I'll take him. We'll wait outside. Come on. Bet you sure he'd lose some credit for bringing me to trial, don't you, Sheriff? That's enough, Hank. Stop needling it. I did hate you, Hank. Stop it. I said, I'd take him in, sheriff. But don't be long. We've got to get started for Dodge. Come on, Hank. Get you walking in front of me. Mr. Dillon, my sheriff, like that makes a man kind of ashamed, don't it? I mean, it makes people think the law don't matter much. Ah, the law's bigger than any one man, just. I, sir, I guess so. What? Hey, that comes from the jail. Yeah, it should. Mr. Dillon, you've been shocked. All right, put the gun up, sheriff. I see a coming in here and trying to get away. He wanted my gun. So he jumped you, huh? Swung around, grabbed for my gun. I had to shoot him. In the back. I don't know where I shot him, Marshall. What difference does it make? I'm the sheriff in this town, ain't you? You're the sheriff, but I'm arresting you for murder. I make mighty poor company. A miracle tip for the effective filtration you need to that count. And L and M has the America's highest quality and best. William Conrad as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall. Tonight's story was specially written for Gun Smoke by John Messon, with music composed and conducted by Rex Corey. Featured in the cast were Lawrence Dobkin, Jack Prussian, John Daener, Joe Forte, and Irene Tedros. Harley Bear as Chester, Howard McNeer as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty. Join us again next week as Matt Dillon, U.S. Marshall, fights to bring law and order out of the wild violence of the West in Gun Smoke. Remember, next week at this same time, Chester Field will bring you another transplant story of the Western Front, here on Gun Smoke, CBS Radio Network.