 I'm going to break you. There are a lot of people here who are ripe to tear you down, and all they need is a good enough reason. I'm going to give them that reason. Have gone. Will travel. Starring Mr. John Daner as Paladin. San Francisco, 1875. The Carlton Hotel. Headquarters of the man called Paladin. Good evening, Miss Wong. Good evening, Mr. Chang. Hey boy. Ah, yes. When are you all finished? Very soon now. Then maybe we go out together, eat dinner. You don't eat here in Carlton Kitchen? No. Where we go then? Oh, hey boy knows. Good little cafe. Lots of good food, good drink. Edge of Chinatown. Run by Uncle of Hey Boy. Okay, we go. But first must run find Mr. Paladin. Have message for him. But I find him very quick and be back. You wait, okay? Okay. Everything foggy, dark and drippy. Can't see nose in front of face. Miserable. Oh, there you are, Mr. Paladin. Hey boy has message for you. Oh, excuse me, please. I thought you someone else. Very embarrassing. Mr. Paladin! Over here, hey boy. Oh. Oh, glad to find you at last, Mr. Paladin. Look all over for you. I told you, I'd be right here in the square. You're so bad. Difficult to locate you in black of night. You know, there's something exciting and adventurous about San Francisco in a night like this. There is? Down there, the bay. And around this hill, the city. Stretching away on the scene in all directions. The city filled with people. Working. Dreaming. Living. These are all very nice, but all the same thing. True on sunny afternoon. Oh, hey boy. Where's your romance? Your spirit of adventure. Oh, my romance is waiting for me back at hotel. Well, I come and tell you this message. Oh, what is it? Message come from person called T. Buchanan. Come from place called North Fork. Message say, trouble in North Fork. Come right away. What you say, Mr. Paladin? Well, I'll be back at the hotel in a little while, hey boy. I'll decide then. Oh, I know you, Mr. Paladin. You decide already. You go. You need lots of dollars for an accident. You need the kind of protection that only mutual love Omaha sells what you need. You need health insurance that pays and keeps on paying. Mutual of Omaha. Hospital, surgical and income protection insurance plans that pay liberal long-term benefits. Here's what you need. You need dependable protection that pays promptly. Low cost plans by Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association. Mutual of Omaha. Call your local Mutual of Omaha agent listed in the yellow pages. Or write Mutual of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska for details on protection that pays and keeps on paying. Mutual of Omaha pays so promptly, it is the first company ever to pay out more than $1 billion in health and accident benefits in its first 50 years. Find out how this low cost protection can help you. Write Mutual of Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska. As it turned out, North Fork was two days' stage ride from San Francisco. And it consisted of three framed buildings on one side of a rutted and dusty road. A livery stable, a saloon and a general store. I figured the store would be the best place to start looking for this tea Buchanan. Inside, a tall man with a full beard and dark clothes was having trouble with the storekeeper. A rather pretty girl stood quietly to one side, listening. As long as I own this store, you meant that I'd buy nothing here. We work hard, we mind our own business. You make me sick. When Indians rode through last week, where were you? Our religion forbids us to raise our hands against any man. You, Mennonites, cause trouble wherever you go. Now that's not true. Who are you? My name's Paladin. In Pennsylvania, the Mennonites are model citizens. They've been there since before the revolution. Well, this ain't Pennsylvania. Black hat, black coat, got a beard like a billy goat. That's a filthy thing to say. Pantility, please. Let her talk up, black beard, till there always was one to say what was on her mind or maybe she don't do that no more now that you stole her away. Take that back, Judd Poke. Nobody stole me away. I wanted to live with the Mennonites. They're decent people. I suppose you think they're better than me, huh? Or better than your own pa, maybe. Pa's a drunken old man with no... Please tell him there's no good quarrel. Let her talk up, you hymn-singin' rabbit. You let a man slap you and do nothing? I forgive thee. Forgive me good then and turn your other cheek, black beard. No, no, you leave her alone. Oh, you ain't forgot how to fight, have you, Tilly? Leave her alone. What did you say, mister? I said leave her alone. Now, wait a minute. There'll be no shooting in here. You want to go outside? No. Now look, mister. All right then, get out. What? Get out. Thank thee, friend, for helping. I am Brockner. It's my pleasure, Mr. Brockner. And this is Tildy Buchanan. T... Buchanan? Yes, Mr. Paladin. I'm T. Buchanan. Yes, I sent for you. Mr. Brockner wouldn't approve if he knew, but... I didn't know what else to do. Mr. Paladin, what's going to become of these people? Well, it's hard to say, Tildy. They're not easy people to defeat. A lot of it, the way folks feel about them is my fault, because I joined them. Judd, the one you almost fought, he thinks he loves me and he hates them for taking me in. I suppose he has reason. My father sold me to Judd for $50 a month ago. Sold you? When he was drunk. When I ran away, no one would take me in with them in the nights, and now it's horrible for them. Last week their fields were burnt. And somebody fired them? Yes. Mr. Brockner insists it was a heavenly messenger, but I found a coal oil can near the fence. How bad was the damage? All the corn, hay fields, and the only thing left is five acres of wheat. And that's probably blight infested, like all the rest of the wheat I've seen around here. No, it's not. Well, Mr. Brockner... Wheat stands strong and green, Mr. Paladin. We've never been bothered with blight. Our seed comes from the old country, the Crimea. But five acres is pitifully small, and we've had a meeting and decided to sell our lands to Colligan and move on. No, Mr. Brockner, you can't! We have little choice. Selling to Colligan? He's wanted to buy this land for a long time. Mr. Brockner, would you do me a great favor? Of course. Let me do your dealing with Colligan. You must promise there will be no violence, Mr. Paladin. Well, I can only promise you this, Mr. Brockner. If there is any violence, it won't be my making. The following message is brought to you by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Salon! Have a nice trip! Don't forget to phone! When you're away from home this summer, put long distance to work. Most people do, like this couple. Mmm, smell that mountain air. I'm so glad we telephoned ahead for reservations, George. Aren't you? Oh, uh, sure. Sure, dear. Oh, George, now you're not worrying about business. Well, I... Why not call the office then? Get it off your mind so you can enjoy yourself. No doubt about it. Long distance helps you have a carefree vacation. Call now while long distance rates are lowest. Remember, whenever, wherever you go this summer, go first by long distance. The next morning I rode into North Fork ahead of Mr. Brockner and the others. As I passed field after field of blighted wheat burning under the sun, I kept thinking of how the Mennonites had endured silently and patiently without raising their voices or their hands. And I told myself that I would try. Try very hard to remember their feelings about violence. Ten cents a bushel. Well, we didn't come here to have our crops stolen. You want eight blighted wheat yourself? Go to it. Ten cents a bushel. Take it or leave it. I reckon we got no choice. Come on inside. Mr. I want to talk to you. Who are you? Marty Buchanan, Judy's father. I want to talk to you about her. You want to sell her to me now? Is that what you want? No, look here. She put in with the Mennonites, and now you... You make me sick, mister. Hey, now! Well, there's no wears near enough, colleague, and then you know it. Take it or leave it. Okay. I want to talk to you. Say what you got to say. The Mennonites have decided to sell. Brockner says you offered five dollars an acre. I'm representing. That offer included the standing crops. Now that the corn's all burnt, I'll pay three dollars and that'll send more. You're a disgrace to your fellow man. You stir up prejudice that makes a mockery of everything a decent man holds valuable when you're a vulture who can't wait to pick a meal from the dead. I just heard you with that man Ferris. You're going to sell it or not? No. But I'll tell you what I'm going to do, colleague, and I'm going to break you. There's a lot of people here who are ripe to tear you down, and all they need is a good enough reason, and I'm going to give them that reason. If people here will stick with me, I'm going to let them build this town right from start. You think you'll listen to a stranger traveling gunslinger? I promised a man that I wouldn't commit violence. I have never found it harder to keep my word. My talk with Culligan had been bluff, and I knew it hadn't worked. I had no idea yet what my next move should be, but I knew that the trouble at North Fork was bound to explode. It had to explode, and there was bound to be violence when it did. In the saloon I found a corner table and sat there, nursing a drink and a three-penny cigar. I've got to talk to you, Mr. Paladin. We don't have much to talk about. Can I... Another glass or two won't make much difference. Sit down and help yourself. Oh, thank you. Thank you. You're not a pretty sight, Buchanan. You don't like me, Paladin. There ain't no reason why you should. That's right. But believe me, it ain't all my fault. Oh, it never is. You said you had to talk to me. Uh, Judd Polk's out to get you. Oh? He just left Culligan's place. He's hired a gunfighter. He says you will never leave town alive. Oh, why are you telling me this? Why are you concerned with Judd Polk's plans for me? Because Paladin, you're... you're Tildy's last hope. What are you talking about? Tildy's caught right in the middle. The Men of Knights won't fight for her, and I can't. I don't have the spirit for it anymore. I was drowning a thousand husky barrels. What do you want me to do? You've got to help Tildy find some kind of happiness. She'd kill herself or she'd marry Judd Polk. Oh, please, Mr. Paladin, will you help? Will you do something? All right, I will. And I want you to do your part. I will. You just tell me what I can do. I'll try hard, and I'll do it. Then find as many farmers as you can, tell them to come here, and hurry. Constipation can be a problem for anyone, even doctors. And when constipation occurs, it's interesting to see just what doctors consider important about a laxative they might use or recommend. Well, a majority of the doctors we heard from had this to say, a laxative should be effective, gentle, as close to natural acting as possible, and a medicine that can be used with complete confidence. Now, X-lax has been popular with many doctors and millions of people over the years because chocolate at X-lax is effective. Overnight, it helps you toward your normal regularity. X-lax is gentle. Next morning, it gives you the closest thing to natural action. And that's why many doctors and millions of people use X-lax with complete confidence. X-lax, the laxative that helps you toward your normal regularity gently. Overnight. Is X-lax in your medicine cabinet? Hello, Mr. Bruckner. Tildy. Hello, Mr. Paladin. We've been looking for you. Did you talk with Mr. Culligan? Yes, he's trying to steal your place at $3 an acre. Oh, no. That's less than we paid for it. Well, don't worry. He won't get it for that. For that matter, he may not get it at all. I don't understand. You will. Mr. Paladin. I told the farmers. I told every last one of them. And they'll be here. They'll... Oh, hello, Tildy. What are you doing here, Pa? I'm trying to help Mr. Paladin. I don't trust you, Pa. Oh, Tildy, I... I've done a lot of wrong things, but I do love you. And I wouldn't do you no more harm. You know any of the good people. You've been for driving us out of the country, Mr. Buchanan. Oh, that's right, I have. You see, you admit it. Tildy, please, let him explain. The way I figured it, Tildy, your only chance for decent life was to get away from North Fork and... and from me. What? I hope that if the men and knights left, you'd go with them. Then you'd be free of everything here. Ah. I don't care if you believe me or not, any of you. But just help Tildy get away. Look out! Mr. Paladin, are you all right? Yeah. You shot at that man. You killed him. I know. That's the gunfighter, Judd Polk, hired to kill him. Mr. Paladin, there's Judd. Hold it, Polk. Right where you are. You don't want to kill me. It's not over a worthless piece of trash like her. Judd, this is for a lot of people. I've never seen a sorrier collection of people trying to call itself a town. You're not a town, you're a mob. And you'll always be a mob until you start thinking for yourselves. You, Ferris. How did the blight affect you this year? Well, lost most of my crop. Had a cell for fodder. And the rest of these people, how'd they do? A lot of them lost everything. Yeah, I said I heard. Now. These men and knights whom you've been trying to drive out of town have got seed that resists blight. Yeah? I never heard of blight-free wheat. There are five acres of it on the Mennonite farm. What good does that do us? How much would you charge for seed, Mr. Buckner? Mr. Paladin, we came here hoping it'd be our new home. We want to be good neighbors. Good neighbor never acts like a businessman. We have plenty of this seed enough to give some to everybody so that they can develop seed of their own. Anyone who takes that offer can start looking for another place to get their supplies. We'll take our chances, culligan. And you go out of business in no time because no one will deal with you. Somebody else will open a decent store here to replace you. Mr. Buckner, I'm Tom Ferris. That's Bill Holy over there, and Carl Runyon there, and Ed Tatum over there. Well, what I'm saying is we haven't been very good neighbors, Mr. Buckner. But we'd like to be. Mr. Paladin, you've been back from North Fork three days now. That's right. And every day since you've been back, we take a walk. Right. We saw one day along Nobby Hill, one day through Chinatown. And in the day we walk from one end of Mbacalero to other. What I want to know is why? I like this town, hey boy. The more I see of other places, the more I like San Francisco. Oh, he's so butter. I like San Francisco too, but not when I run all over it. We're not running all over it? Oh, maybe not you, but hey, hey boy, that's the keep up. Oh, and I'll slow down. There. That better? Oh, oh. Oh, he's all. Thank you very much. Oh, say, hey boy, how's your romance coming along? Romance? Miss Wong. Oh, not too good, no. Take her to dinner nightly for North Fork. Don't see her again for two days. What happened? Started out at a restaurant with Uncle, but changed mind. He said, go to Italian restaurant instead. Eat lots of food, drink wine, laugh, tell jokes. And next day Miss Wong in bed with sad stomach. Who cannot digest elaborate food? Oh, she mad at me. Oh, she said, hey boy, next time we go to dinner, we go to a nice Chinese restaurant, eat nice, eat plain Chinese food. Like egg roll, almond duck, sweet sour pork, water chestnut, a bird nest soup, wonton, sumai, chicky soup, gum, fried shrimp, soy sauce, moo-oo guai-ping. Have you ever heard of K-Site Smooth Seal? Why no. Why no. Is it new? What does it do? Well, this is off the record. Just between us boys, your automatic transmission, does it ever make a noise? Does that little chatter matter? I hear a very weird whir sometimes. It doesn't sound good, boys, but let's be sure. When you're sitting at the light and it goes to green, you put your foot down hard. Have you ever felt a sort of a jerk, a kind of a jar, or heaven helped you a real thud bump? Oh, I've felt it. Oh, me too. I've had it stranger. What do we do? Well, don't buy a horse and don't trade your car. Just get yourself some new K-Site Smooth Seal. New K-Site Smooth Seal? New K-Site Smooth Seal. New K-Site Smooth Seal? How will that help? Why it's made to soften those shrunken seals, which are apt to leak when there's power on the wheels. It stops those thud bumps, jerks, and jars that are apt to creep into these modern cars. What is K-Site Smooth Seal? One application can pack them all off on a long vacation, and it's less than $2 at your service station. A little new K-Site Smooth Seal, boys? Come on. I'll go. And if it doesn't work, you get double your money back. AvGun will travel. Created by Herb Meadow and Sam Rolf is produced and directed by Norman McDonnell and stars John Daener as Paladin with Ben Wright as Hayboy. Tonight's story was written by Irving Rubine and adapted for radio by John Dawson. Featured in the cast were Lou Krugman, Joseph Kearns, Jess Kirkpatrick, Harry Bartell, and Vic Perrin. Congratulations to station WDBJ, Roanoke, Virginia, which celebrated its 35th anniversary on the air, June 20, 1959. This is Hugh Douglas inviting you to join us again next week for AvGun Will Travel.