One thing I love is a warm welcome.
Yeah, so do I.
Where do you think we can find one?
Let's try the saloon.
I like the way you think.
I've heard of people being stoned,
but this is ridiculous.
Everything's in place, except the bets.
There's no money. Yeah.
You'd better go check the till.
Right.
Completely cleaned out.
Not a thing in it.
On the house?
Well, thank you.
Don't mind if I do.
Maybe it's some new kind of poison.
I just remembered I don't drink.
Same story in there.
Customer, storekeeper, and the money's gone.
And the same in the blacksmith's shop,
only with a hammer. Ugh!
Safe's blown wide open.
An expert job, too.
Jim, this man's eyes are moving.
Don't touch him.
He's alive.
Maybe they're all alive.
It's very difficult to explain, Governor.
The paralysis comes on quite suddenly,
and the whole body becomes rigid.
The effects last for about 48 hours.
Do we know what causes it?
No, sir, we don't.
It could be a new poison.
A colorless gas, for instance.
My partner's working on it now.
Well, what are the aftereffects?
Ow! Be careful, you idiot.
All the people seem to have recovered.
The entire town of Willow Springs was paralyzed,
yet there was just one fatality, an older man.
It could have been from some other cause.
I suppose I'll have to investigate.
Oh, we've already done that.
We hope the autopsy will show us what sort of problem
we're up against.
What about the missing money?
Not a trace.
Not a clue.
If there were any tracks, the wind took care of that
long before we got there.
All right, Roscoe.
You've practiced enough for today.
Now get back to the butcher shop.
You seem to be taking this rather calmly, sir.
Before you come tomorrow, Roscoe,
do sharpen that razor.
You must have been chopping kindling with it.
You're quite wrong, Mr. West.
I'm not at all calm about this.
But, uh, just because I live among savages doesn't mean
I have to act like one.
Do you know how I became governor
of this territory?
It beats me.
Well, apparently,
I offended some rather powerful political figures.
This is my punishment.
This office is my prison cell.
A bird in a gilded cage.
But I intend to make fools of my persecutors, Mr. West.
I intend to do such an outstanding job
that I will return to Washington in triumph.
Best of luck.
I understand you are a man of many accomplishments,
many skills, Mr. West.
I know how to shave myself.
I don't mind impertinence, Mr. West.
It shows spirit.
And you're going to need lots of it.
This is a wire from the President,
instructing me to keep you and Mr. Gordon on this case
until the looting of Willow Springs is solved
and the money returned.
We were expecting that.
Possibly you were.
But, as it happens,
the President contacted me, not you.
So, as your superior,
let me tell you one thing, Mr. West.
Unless I get prompt action on this case, immediate action,
I will nail your brilliant and accomplished reputation
to the wall.
What is it, Hobson?
Sorry to bother you, Governor,
but we just received an incomplete request
for help from Sand Hills.
We can't seem to raise the telegraph agent there.
Can't raise the agent?
Did you hear that, West?
Do you think there's any connection?
Well, answer me.
Sir...
...he's already gone.
About your teeth...
Hey.
Oh, Dr. Kirby!
Well, I'm certainly glad to see you, sir.
I'm happy to be of help.
The, uh,
federal authorities are really quite grateful
to you for having volunteered, sir.
Well, from what I'd heard about this,
I couldn't afford to pass it up.
Now, let me see.
Uh-huh.
What is it, Doctor?
Oh, it's exciting.
It's a real challenge.
I've, I've, I've never seen anything like this before.
What's the matter?
I don't know.
Not... not enough rest probably.
I've been up all night looking at these medical books,
trying, trying, trying to make some sense out of this.
Oh.
Have you any theories so far?
Yes, I have. Here, look.
In there? Yes.
This slide is a bit of tissue
taken from the victim.
It's been stained to show the nerve endings.
Oh, is that what those little blue dots are?
Mm-hmm. Th-That shows
that the nerves have been attacked
by some... some toxic substance.
What's wrong, Doctor?
Muscles...
stiffening.
What can I do?
Tell me what to do to help you.
I must have been infected in the autopsy.
I need an injection.
Where is it? I'll get it for you.
In the bag...
under the table.
Ya-hoo!
Our new technique sure makes our work a lot easier
these days, don't it, Lafe?
Hey, looky here.
It would be just like shooting clay ducks at the fair.
Hold it.
You know the orders.
I used to think you ran this gang, Coley.
That's why I joined up with you.
Anytime you think different,
you can try me.
All right.
Time to ride.
...six, 37, 38...
...39, 40,
41,000.
Not bad for a small-town bank.
Not bad. Look at that.
All right, where's that sack from the Express Office?
There it is there.
Sweet, sweet money. I love it. Mmm.
All that money.
Know what I'm gonna do with this?
$300?
A lousy 300!
That's all?
Who cleaned out the Express Office?
I did.
Why?
Now, Frank, it would certainly pain me
if I thought you were going into business for yourself.
Say what you mean, Coley.
Spit it out!
I'm saying maybe
you put all the small bills in the sack for us
and all the big ones in your own pocket.
That's a lie.
Only one way to find out.
Hand over your wallet, Frank.
Frank, your wallet.
What's the matter with all of us?
Do we have to let him ride up and down our backs?
Hey, now, Coley,
Frank wouldn't do nothin' like that.
Maybe that express agent was down at the bank
for a deposit or something.
Hey, come on.
Let's have a drink
and be pals. Forget about it. Come on.
Up to you, Frank.
Get his wallet!
O... Over a thousand dollars, you liar, you!
Oh, please!
You... you are not one of them.
That's what all the trouble's about.
What do you want?
Out. Which way?
The desert is too open.
They'll see you if you run.
They'll see me if I stay.
Come. I hide you.
No one will search the tower. They are afraid.
Afraid?
Those men don't frighten easily.
By the way, what are you doing here?
Check the tower, Lafe.
Not me. I'm not going up in there.
I'll do it myself.
Quickly, inside.
I know how you feel.
We're in the same fix.
We can't find him anywhere.
Not a sign of him.
All right.
Lafe, you and Whitey patrol outside the wall.
Sam, Jeff, you help the men on the sentry post.
Whoever he is, I don't think he got away.
He's bound to make a break for it before sunup,
and that gives him one hour.
Think maybe it's about time we moved our hideout?
Move? What are you talking about?
This place is perfect.
Besides, we've got all our equipment here.
It wouldn't be so easy to move.
Yeah, well, we've been talking about that.
Maybe it's about time we got ourselves clear
of the doc and his...
ooh, his bugs.
You'd rather go back
to shooting it out on every job?
You never had it so easy.
Besides, we've hardly scratched the surface.
We're going to clean out this whole territory.
Look, Coley, we made a couple of real good scores,
but the truth is, the boys and I
are just plain scared of that crazy doc.
Nobody- nobody- knows what that guy's gonna do next.
You leave the doc to me.
All any of you gotta do is take orders,
unless there's somebody else here
who wants to go into business for himself.
All right, boys, you heard him.
Let's do what he says.
Now, please, I know you're hungry.
Please eat.
Mr., um...
West.
My name's James West.
Do you do this for all the strangers
that happen to wander in?
I, uh, I need help.
I'll do anything.
Well, that gives us something in common.
I must get my father out of here,
away from the gang, and the killer who runs them.
I think you'd better tell me everything about your father
and his experiments.
You believe me?
How could you possibly lie to me?
My father was a student of the great Dr. Lister,
the man who followed Pasteur
in proving that many disease are caused by tiny bacteria.
You understand?
The germ theory.
I've heard of it.
After his studies with Lister,
my father went to China as a medical missionary.
It was there he met my mother and I was born.
He was the great hero with my people there.
He helped heal many hundreds.
What went wrong?
There was a plague.
Thousands of people were ill,
including the wife of the ruler of the province.
My father treated her...
but she died.
The ruler blamed him.
As punishment...
he killed my mother.
He drove us out.
Destroyed my father's reputation.
Took away his license to practice medicine.
That was his life.
So, now he breeds new types of bacteria.
He has developed a germ that can paralyze.
Well, why does he let the gang
use this germ for their own purposes?
He doesn't know what they're doing with it.
He's their prisoner.
They are putting it in the main water supply
of the towns they loot.
Jim.
When do they plan the next job?
I don't know exactly.
I only know that it is soon,
and that they intend
to kill everyone in San Francisco
if they have to.
You be extra careful.
I'll be back as soon as I spread the warning.
¶ ¶
Hey, Coley, we caught him.
Coley?
We got him.
Governor, I'd like you
to issue an immediate warning
to all the towns in the territory.
Watch the sideburns, Roscoe.
All water supply should be guarded 24 hours a day,
and no new shipments of food should be used until further notice.
Easy! Don't just hack at me.
Governor, I think
you should request federal troops
to quarantine all outbreaks of illness.
Governor, do you hear what I'm saying?
Shout, Mr. West.
How could I not hear you?
I'm telling you
that you have a full-scale emergency.
And unless you act quickly,
millions of innocent people could die.
Yes, yes, and on the strength of what some...
Stop it while I'm talking.
On the strength
of what some idiotic hysterical girl told you,
you want me to create a panic throughout the whole territory
and make a fool of myself in Washington.
Just because of some wild story about germs.
What did Artemus and the doctor learn from the autopsy?
Learn? Nothing.
The doctor, if there was one, vanished.
And, uh, Gordon turned up with a concussion.
What? Where is he now?
I have no idea.
He staggered out of bed
to go and search for you
around Sand Hills.
Oh, it's been a comedy of errors,
and in my opinion,
you've both have been totally incompetent.
Roscoe, you're here to shave me.
Now, Governor,
you and I are going to have a serious talk.
Do you believe I tracked the gang
from Sand Hills to their hideout?
I believe you tracked the gang
from Sand Hills to their hideout.
And do you also believe that they have a germ culture
that causes a paralysis in the towns that they loot?
Paralysis in the towns they loot.
And I'm sure you believe
that they have a new and deadlier germ
which not only paralyzes, but kills.
Yes, but kills.
What are you going to do about that, Governor?
Do just what you said.
Issue a warning to guard all water and food supplies.
Do just what you said.
Now you're making sense.
I'm going back to the fort,
get Arty, the girl, and her father.
I could send some men with you.
No, no, we can't attack in force.
They'd kill Artemus before I got to him.
I'm going alone.
Whatever you say.
Now we understand each other, Governor.
You do exactly as I said, or when I come back,
I'm going to give you a much closer shave
than that.
I brought you some playmates.
I figured they might help you to talk.
Well, thank you.
It's right friendly of you.
Yeah, and they're hungry.
Very hungry.
Now, you see this?
Bacon.
They love it.
They won't be able to tell you
from the real thing.
You know, my memory's starting to come back.
What was it you wanted to know?
What brings you out here.
Nothing, I told you.
Just stumbled onto the place.
It's on the way to nowhere.
Just where I was headed.
You know, there's one thing
you ought to know about these pets.
They're not feeling so good.
Oh.
Nothing serious, I hope.
Maybe.
May be fatal.
You see, they got the germ yesterday.
They should be loaded with it by now.
You sure are a persuasive man.
So, let's hear the truth.
All right, I was headed here.
To hide out.
I got into a scrape in Virginia City.
Shot a man.
The law took out after me.
What about the other man?
The one who ran?
I didn't see anybody else.
I was walking over to the fort when everything busted loose.
Uh-huh.
You know, there's one thing
I know for sure about you, friend.
Hmm?
That you're a rotten liar.
Stop it!
What are you doing?
You know the doctor forbids anyone
to take his animals.
Well, I wouldn't let them eat enough
to hurt him.
Turn this man loose.
Ah, you take care of your pets.
I'll handle this character.
Care to watch?
You.
You staged that whole autopsy.
Of course I did.
The moment I learned there was to be an inquiry,
I made myself available.
You hear that?
Ah, it's just a coyote howling.
Are you going to bet?
Yeah, I'm going to bet it's not a coyote.
Come on.
Aw, every time I get a good hand.
Oh, yes, I see them now.
Little stick shape things, wiggling.
Not really very pretty.
If you knew the scientific genius
that goes into breeding a new strain
of bacteria, Mr. Gordon.
You're the second person in the world
to see that germ.
That's very flattering.
Why should the honor fall to me?
Because you have a brain.
Ah.
Even if it is in a rudimentary state of development.
Not like those cattle down below.
I see. You want somebody to brag to.
All right, tell me about that, uh, new bug of yours.
What's so good about it?
That is the most dangerous bacteria
the world has ever known.
Mm-hmm.
I'm going to call it, Bacillus Kirbyensis.
It'll make my name immortal in medical circles.
If that's fame, Dr. Kirby,
I'd rather die unknown.
Well, it is fame, Mr. Gordon.
Many great researchers have given their names to diseases.
Yes, but they were working for mankind,
not against it.
Yes. I spent, uh...
I spent years trying to save mankind.
And what was my reward?
They killed my wife.
They robbed me of my profession.
And so now I'm going to give them
what they understand.
Death.
Why?
So scum like Coley Rodman
and his gang can loot the world?
No, no.
No, no. They...
They think they're using me.
They are, Dr. Kirby.
You're nothing but a weapon in Rodman's hand.
Well, we shall see.
I, uh... I have certain plans.
Oh...
What was that?
The natives are restless.
Stop it.
Not in the lab.
Hold it!
Get... Get out of here!
Get out!
What are you doing in here?
I've warned you.
You are not to come in the laboratory.
I've told you a hundred times.
You're not to be here...
Jim!
You know him?
I...
Yes, Father.
Who is he?
Where did he come from?
He-he's a friend.
He wants to help me,
help us.
Help us into prison, maybe.
He's the spy that was here before.
Now I know how he managed to stay out of sight.
No.
No, you wouldn't do such a thing.
Anna, t-tell me you didn't hide him.
You will inject these men
with my new culture.
Hey, Coley,
why don't we just shoot 'em and get it over with?
No, if the doc's new germ's all he says it is,
they'll be dead by morning.
Kind of worth waiting to find out.
Come on. Let's go.
Arte, can you move?
I don't want to try. I'd hate to be disappointed.
I'm glad Anna didn't really stick us with that needle.
Yeah, well, she's a nice girl.
I can't say much for her father.
Well, so this is where they keep the rest of the menagerie, eh?
Who?
Show a little respect, you know?
I could be your uncle.
Who had the picnic?
Oh, that's the food Anna brought me last night.
Oh, you stay here often?
Mm, maybe once too often.
Hey, Jim, I just thought...
what do you suppose'll happen when we don't die on schedule?
I imagine they'll give us some help.
Just give me the stuff, and let's get moving.
No, I told you that's no longer the plan.
Look, Doc, maybe it hasn't sunk in yet, but that's the plan.
The town's waiting to be knocked over,
and me and my friends - we just happen to be businessmen.
You know, you're like some little termite gnawing at the bark...
when, with one swoop, you could fell the entire tree.
I'm not trying to get rid of the whole human race.
I figure if we knock off $40,000, $50,000 a week,
we're going all right.
Money, money, money!
That's all you think about.
And all you think about is killing!
I don't mind shooting a man, but...
I don't... I don't see the sense
in wiping out hundreds at a time.
Hundreds?
Thousands.
Hundreds of thousands.
You know, Doc, I-I think you're getting
a little near the edge,
you know what I mean?
I'll take that new bacillus to San Francisco.
In three days, I'll wipe out that entire city...
and then you can loot till your greed chokes you.
You mean that...
the germ will... kill everybody that fast?
In the morning, you'll have proof.
The experiment will be complete.
Mr. West and Mr. Gordon will, uh,
no longer be among the living.
It's solid.
Don't move!
I don't remember ordering a new suit.
Ah, it's a portrait.
Wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
Well, it's very nice,
but I don't think you've captured the real me.
Ah...
Just a pinch of salt.
Ah, yes.
Now that's the real me.
A regular Rubens.
That'll cost you ten.
I've about had it with that loony doc.
I'll see that and raise you.
It's time to get rid of him.
Yeah, I guess so. It's about time.
Yeah, good, good.
We've been thinking
we can't stick around here forever.
Somebody's bound to come looking
for those two guys sooner or later.
All right, then, we'll clear out,
then we'll hit Silver City on our way south.
Yeah, and what about the doc?
Will he give us the stuff to fix up the town?
Don't worry about Doc. I'll take care of him.
And the girl? I've got plans for her too.
All right, come on. Let's pack up the loot.
Whitey, you go up to the storage room
and take care of the two men.
All right. All right, come on. Let's move.
Lafe, now.
Aw, Coley, every time I get a good hand...
You get Anna. I'll get the doctor.
It's impossible.
You're dead by now.
I'm afraid your little bug's
fallen down on the job, Doctor.
No, I...
I checked them...
rechecked.
You failed, Doctor.
Now come with me.
I only want to help you.
Help me?
How?
I know some good doctors.
They're the ones that'll help you.
They'll help me?
No, no.
They sent you here.
They want to see me destroyed.
They want to see my work destroyed.
They're jealous of me!
I wonder what happened to Whitey.
If you don't care about yourself, what about your daughter?
No! My work!
You'll ruin everything! Stop it!
I'll kill
all of you!
Okay... okay, don't shoot.
You pick up Kirby's body and carry him outside.
Now!
You, get up and help.
According to the public health service,
there's no further danger of an epidemic.
Then both Willow Springs and Sand Hill
will be back to normal.
Thank Heaven for that.
Yes, your father's discovery was quite an accomplishment.
Oh, it, uh, may prove useful someday,
maybe as an anesthetic.
I'd like to think some good came of it.
Poor Father.
He started out wanting to help people.
Maybe in the end, he did.
I hope so.
Now it's time to think about you
and a new life in San Francisco.
San Francisco!
Wonderful town, San Francisco.
You'll love it there.
As a matter of fact, once we get there,
I'd like to hang around just to make sure you do.
Oh, you're very kind.
John and I'll be glad to have you join us.
John? My fiancé, John Chang.
When he heard what happened to my father,
he-he wired to meet him in San Francisco.
He is wonderful.
Oh, wonderful. Mm, marvelous.
But, of course, we can be good friends.
Friends. Friends.
What's that for?
John Chang.
Oh, of course, John Chang.
How could I forget John Chang?
Hmm? Cheers.
Oh.
Of course.
Cheers.