Gunsmoke

Better drop down them curtains, Miss.

Keep out some of the dust.

Whoa!

Whoa!

Who's out there?

Who are ya?

Please come out and let me see ya.

Just wasn't no sign of her.

Nothing but a bunch of dress boxes strewed around.

Got 'em down at the house if you want 'em.

Well, no, thanks. Maybe later.

Where can we find the wreck?

About 18 miles. That way.

There's a fallen tree across the road. Coach is down in the gulley.

You can't miss it.

Thanks for your help, ma'am.

- Thank you, ma'am. - Mrs. Grayson.

Sorry about your friend.

Thank you, ma'am.

Now, just a minute.

I don't wanna hurt you.

But if you don't quit fighting, I'm gonna have to.

Now, please, you've gotta help me.

You've gotta tell me where we are

and how we can get out of here.

Look, I'll... I'll tell you what.

I'll turn you loose, and then we can talk.

All right?

Wait a minute!

Come back here! You've gotta help me!

Please!

All right, all right.

This is where you live, huh?

I wonder how many years you've been like this?

Hey, uh, I'm lost.

You can get me out of here.

Oh, please help me.

I know you can hear me.

But you won't talk.

Or you can't.

You just stay right here.

I can't do anything about that.

You just go ahead and be a dog in the manger.

Eat your... your berries.

I hope you'll be very happy.

Real happy.

Marshal, there's some blood on the seat.

Festus: Matthew! Matthew!

There's a whole mess of tracks back yonder

heading off into that...

Why you reckon she'd want to go thataway?

I don't know, but it's a good thing she's walking anyway.

Come on, Newly.

Festus: Come on, Ruth. Hyah!

Ruth, hyah!

Curious about what I'm doing?

This is a fire.

I'm gonna try and catch some fish and get something to eat.

Smells good, doesn't it?

Come on.

Here.

You are wild.

I don't suppose I'll...

I'll ever know how you got this way.

Festus: Matthew? Young'un's tracks here.

Looks like she's barefooted.

Made about the same time Miss Kitty's was.

Sometime yesterday.

Newly: Well, what's a little kid doing out here anyway?

Miss Kitty was all alone before this.

Matt: Well, there may be a ranch around here.

Leastwise Miss Kitty knows enough to follow downstream.

She's bound to come to something sometime.

We better get rolling.

I don't know how to thank you, so...

This is about all I have to offer.

A very special person gave me that.

Well... I'm gonna have to leave you now.

Gotta get across that river before dark.

You think she was here, Marshal?

Could be her.

I sure hope so.

She's survivin'.

Well, I hate the thought of her staying out here another night alone.

Oh, I do too, Newly.

I don't know what we're gonna do neither, Matthew.

We've just ran plumb out of tracking ground.

I got an idea maybe she crossed here.

Let's go over to the other side and take a look.

Look, I've got an idea.

Come on over here. I'm gonna draw you a picture.

That's a house.

A house.

Where people live.

All right?

These are people.

People.

Like you.

And me.

People that live in a house.

Please.

Come on.

Come on, please.

Come look at me.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to frighten you.

Come on.

You should put this back on.

You poor baby.

Wait a minute.

Lamond, get out here!

Just go on now. Come on.

It's people. They'll help us. Come on.

Come look at this.

Look, look, look, look there.

Ain't that it?

Ain't that the animal?

Will you go after it?

Get goin'.

Stop. Just stop it.

Look at that. Boy, get up there. Go catch it now, you hear?

What do you mean "it"?

You mean the child?

That ain't no child. That's a animal.

- What? - It.

Who are you anyway?

Well, my name is...

is Kitty Russell. I'm from Dodge City.

And I was in this stagecoach accident.

I got lost, and that child helped me.

Helped you? It ain't ever helped nobody.

I don't want her hurt.

Come on. We gonna go see Miss Mather.

- Who's Miss Mather? - That's Ma.

Now, you come on. She'll get you something to eat.

Don't worry. We're not gonna hurt you.

I wanna hear how you become friendly with the animal.

Oh, stop fighting me, Mister.

I gotta get your neck.

That child, who is she?

How'd she get this way?

Ain't nobody around here knows for sure.

We think it was the fever sickness over Jewel Creek way.

It happened years ago.

And folks were struck down all over.

They just fell down.

Up and down, back and forth and sideways.

Bodies were layin' all over the place.

We figured that the animal come from one of them families that died.

Didn't anybody take her in or try to take care of her?

The chances are nobody knew... Knew...

Will you hush up? He rambles on like that ever since he was afflicted.

Who'd want to take in a mangy kid right out of a fever house?

We never got it, though, so's you ain't gotta worry none.

Well, I already told her. She knows we ain't sick.

Will you stop buttin' in? I'm telling it.

Yes, Rubilee.

Um...

How long you folks live here?

Oh, we don't live here.

In this burnt-out old shack?

No, we're just stopping off here.

We're on our way into town for the big doin's.

It's Fourth of July, and we just stopped in here last night

to get in out of the rain.

I just told her that.

Well, that explains it.

Explains what?

Well, the child. She's...

She's deathly afraid of people, and...

Well, she lead me here, thinking it was abandoned, and...

when she saw you, she ran away.

Faster than a jack rabbit, she did.

Well, I don't understand how she survived.

She survived by stealin'. That's how.

Folks 'round here been going crazy with her getting into chicken coops.

Bad enough she steals the chickens and the eggs.

Then she leaves the coops open,

and old Mr. Fox comes in,

steals what she didn't take.

Even known to steal a pig now and then.

Eats it raw.

Then leaves what she can't tote off.

Even the seed grain ain't safe.

All right, mister, you're through.

Hasn't anybody tried to catch her?

To feed her? To teach her?

Or something like that?

Folks round here tried everything they knew.

They've tried dogs, they tried traps.

They even tried poison.

Poison? On a child?

Ain't no child. It's an animal.

Worse than any wolf or coyote you ever saw.

Because it is smart.

Ain't smarter than us, Ma.

Sure look wore out, Miss Kitty.

I can make a palette for you.

In the shack, on the floor.

I sure could use some rest.