04x04 - b*llet Bait

[bunniefuu]

[engine humming]

- [Narrator] Out of the clear blue

of the Western sky comes "Sky King."

[dramatic music]

- You sure that load is
coming through tonight?

- Of course, I'm sure.

He makes his run every Tuesday
night about the same time.

Be along in a few minutes.

- I sure hope so.

Soon as I get my cut, I'm
heading back to the big city.

How do you stand to live in
a small town like Grover?

- I wonder.

[dramatic music]

That must be him now.

[tires screeching]

- You crazy idiots, what's
the matter with you?

- Get back in the truck, quick.

Up this road.

- I don't get it.

Joe is always on time,

and I can't understand him
being late to his own wedding.

[someone knocking]

Maybe that's Joe. Excuse me.

Oh, Martha, come in.

Hello, Ezzie.
- Howdy, Sky.

Well, I had a little trouble
getting the old car started.

Hope we ain't too late to wish 'em luck.

Why I guess we're too
late for the ceremony.

- No, the wedding hasn't taken place yet.

Make yourselves comfortable.

- Fran, now please don't worry.

You know that a team of wild horses

wouldn't keep Joe Halliday from you.

- He's so late already. He
might have at least phoned.

Well, here I am, a bride
without a bridegroom.

- And me, I'm a bridesmaid
without a wedding.

My very first chance too.

You know how men are.
They're, well, you know.

Joe will be here any minute. You'll see.

[dramatic music]

- Oh, I ought to have my head examined.

Running out of gas. What a wedding night.

I, Francis, take thee, Joe.

No, no, I, Joe, take thee, Francis.

Well, I, Joe, ain't gonna take anybody

if I don't get there pretty quick.

Hey, fellas, can you spare a little gas?

I'm all out, and I...
[dramatic music]

[g*nsh*t banging]

Mr. Frost, you shot him.

- That's very observant of you, Joe.

Now get back and help load that truck.

- But I'm already late for my
wedding, and what about him?

- Joe, go help with the truck

or you'll be stretched out beside him.

- Start moving those cases from
that truck over to this one.

What are we gonna do with
him when he gets through?

- The same as we did with the driver.

Joe, this is a quiet job.

Now come on, hurry up. Come on.

[box thudding]

Joe, quiet I said!

[kick thudding]
[dramatic music]

[g*nsh*t banging]

- He got away.

- He didn't get very far.
We'd hear him running.

- We can't stay here all
night. Let's split up.

- And sh**t each other in
the dark? Don't be stupid.

Joe, Joe, I know you can hear me!

You got one chance of
staying alive. Just one.

- Staying alive. Are you crazy?

- Just one chance, Joe.

Get lost as far away from
Grover as you can run.

Play it smart, Joe, and stay alive.

If you don't play it
smart, that girl of yours

will never live long enough to be a bride.

Come on.

[dramatic music]

[crowd chattering]

- Good night, folks.

Good bye.

Good night. I'm sorry about this.

Good night, Herb. See you later.

Martha, good night.

- Now wait a minute, Martha.

You know, Sky, it's a dang shame.

A fine girl like Francis.

I never thought Joe would
do a thing like this.

Do you reckon he just got scared

of getting married and run off?

- You don't really think
that, do you, Ezzie?

- Well, no, I reckon not.

But it's darned strange nobody
answered the phone there,

and the sheriff couldn't
find nobody over there.

- Well, Mitch is still looking.

I'm gonna help as soon
as I take Fran home.

- Martha, you see how
lucky you are? Come on.

- There goes the last of 'em.

- Except for the girl.

- When she leaves, I
want you to follow her.

There's still a chance
he might go to her place.

- We supposed to make
a career out of this?

- My friend, would you
prefer the electric chair?

[Sky knocking]

- Fran.

Fran, I guess I better take your home.

- What's keeping 'em?

- I don't know. Looks like
Joe might've taken my advice.

- There he is over by the shed.

- He'll not get away again.

[g*nshots banging]

Circle him. We'll get him between us.

[g*nsh*t banging]

[blow cracking]

- I came as soon as I got
your phone call, Mitch.

- Thanks, Sky. How are you feeling?

- Fair. I guess it pays
to have a thick skull.

But I wish you'd explained
to me what the connection is

between the rap on my
head and this m*rder case.

- I'll do better than that. I'll show you.

Take a look at the registration.

- Well, this is Joe Halliday's car.

- Mhm, Joe's mixed up in this somehow.

- Mitch, surely you don't think
Joe shot the driver, do you?

- I'm not ready with answers yet.

I'm still full of questions.

- He couldn't have done it.
I'd stake my life on it.

- That fella back there staked
his life on something too.

Joe was here, and he's missing.

And getting mixed up in
something like this is

the best excuse a man can have
for missing his own wedding.

I suppose you're gonna have
to tell Francis about this.

- And I'll take Penny with me.

Fran's bound to be broken up about it,

especially with this on
top of everything else.

Doesn't look so good for
Joe any way you cut it,

does it, Mitch?

- Not if he's alive.

- What do you mean?

- Alive, he's the best suspect I've got.

[dramatic music]

[horn honking]

- Fran, dear, I'm sorry about
what happened. Terribly sorry.

And I can't even tell
you anything about it

or your life will be in danger.

Your life?

- Go on.

- You've got to forget all
about our plans and about me.

Believe me, Fran, this is
for your sake, not mine.

I'll always love you, darling. Joe.

- What's it all about, Sky?

- The sheriff called to
tell me they found an empty

gasoline can near where that
fella was k*lled last night.

Suppose Joe did run out of
gas, went to look for some,

stumbled onto that hijacking
in time to see the k*lling.

- Joe's always running out of gas,

but that doesn't explain where he is now.

- No, just a guess, of course.

But suppose Joe did see that k*lling.

He could be in hiding because
he's afraid whoever did it

might try to k*ll him too.

Fran, I think there's
a chance to help him,

but he says here that your
life will be in danger too.

- Oh, I don't care, Sky. I love him.

If he's in trouble, I want to help.

- Okay, let's go.

Well, Mitch?

- He's alive.

- [Sky] I suppose that
makes him your best suspect.

- Sky, I like Joe Halliday too.

It's a whole lot tougher to
go after somebody you like,

but the law is the law.

- Doesn't the fact that Joe's
car was found out of gas

put a new light on the subject?

- All right, Sky, so he
didn't commit the m*rder,

but he was there.

And withholding information
is a crime too. You know that.

Joe is still in trouble.

- Can't beat that kind of trouble

by trying to run away from it.

I'd like to talk to that boy.

- You've got to find him first.

- Sky, why didn't I think of it before?

Maybe he's where he sent
it from. The letter I mean.

Maybe that's where he is.

- Terranceville. It's postmarked 8:00 a.m.

He made pretty good time.

- Terranceville, that's a
bus stop on the road north.

Hardly seems like he'd drop off there.

- Maybe he would.

He talked about taking me
fishing at some lake near there

for our honeymoon.

- Now we're getting somewhere.

Oh, here's Terranceville.

- And lots of lakes. I know.

We used to go fishing up there, remember?

- Oh, yes.

- Well, it's a chance. I'll
send some teletypes up that way.

Maybe somebody will spot him.

- Okay, and I'll fly in
there and scout around.

- Sky, all those mountains
and lakes, it'd be like

trying to pick one little cloud
out of a whole thunderstorm.

- Well, there's a landing
strip at Fletcher Lake.

The only other way in
there is by pack train.

- Pack train. Joe mentioned packing in.

- Too late to fly up there now.

There's no lights on that landing strip.

I'll gas up and take off
first thing in the morning.

Come on, Penny.

- Oh, Sky, are you going as
Joe's friend or my deputy?

- Let's worry about that
when Joe comes back, huh?

- All right, Sky.

[engine rumbling]

[dramatic music]

- Hi, Dennis.

- Hi, Penny. There you go.

- Hello, Dennis.

- Hi.
- Oh, say, check the lock

on the baggage compartment door, will you?

It sticks a little. And
top him off, full load.

- Making a long trip, Sky?

- [Sky] Far enough. Fletcher
Lake in the morning.

- Fletcher Lake, huh? Going fishing again?

- Fishing? Well, in a way.

- Bring me back some trout.
Last time they were mighty fine.

- Okay, I'll do that.

Come on, hungry. I'll buy you a hamburger.

- How much further is it to Terranceville?

- We should be there in about an hour.

We'll catch a little
sleep and then head off

for Lake Fletcher.

About 10 o'clock in the morning
we should be seeing the kid.

- And this time we'll get him.

[engine humming]

- Little more of this,

and I'll feel like k*lling
him with my bare hands.

He sure picked a good place to hide.

- Yeah, but not good enough.

- Doesn't look much like
lake country down there.

- It's pretty dry up here this year.

It's usually a lot greener.
There's Fletcher Lake up ahead.

- Howdy, folks.

- Hi, Mr. Winslow.

- Glad to see somebody up here.

The lake's pretty low this
year what with the drought

and all, but you might catch something.

- Well, we didn't come up
here to fish, Mr. Winslow.

We were looking for a friend.

- Well, aren't we all?

But I'm sorry, folks. There's
not a soul up here right now.

- Well, who's that over
there? Sky, isn't that...

- That's Joe. He's not a guest.

He's my new handyman. Been chopping wood.

- When did he come in?

- Yesterday.

- Joe!

- Sky! Penny!

Sky, Penny, what are you doing here?

- Excuse me, son.

When you're finished with your friends,

you better get back to your chopping.

Then come up to the cabin
and help me repair some rods.

- Yes, sir. Sky, I...

- You didn't leave much of a trail.

We were lucky to find you.

- How's Francis?

- She'll be all right as
soon as you get back to her.

- Oh, I can't go back.

- You've got to go back.

Not only for your own sake,
but for Francis as well.

- But you don't understand.
If I went back, they'd...

- They'd what?

- They'd k*ll her. And me too.

[dramatic music]

- Get the horses out of sight.

When I signal you from the plane, join me.

- Right.

- You think I'm doing
this because I want to?

- Why are you doing it?

- Well, one of the men was a stranger,

but the other man was Mr. Frost.

- Frost?

You mean the fellow that
runs the warehouse in Grover?

- Yeah, and even if the
sheriff arrests him,

I'm afraid of what the other man might do.

- Joe, you can't let
threats keep you from doing

what you think is right.

If we all did that, this
world would be run by bullies.

Now don't you worry,
Francis will be protected.

Come on, let's get your things.
We'll head back for town.

I'll radio Mitch to pick up Frost

and put a guard on Francis.

- Sky, look.

[dramatic music]

What is it?

- Looks like we lost most of our gas.

I better check the gauges.

- Don't bother, Mr. King.

- Frost.

- You have a nice talk with Joe?

- Yeah, real informative.

- Careful, Sky. Back up.

All right, all of you get into the plane.

You're taking a nice, short trip.

- What, with no gas?

- Oh, I didn't drain all of it.

I figure you've got maybe


- We can't get anywhere in 10 minutes.

It takes more gas to take off and climb,

and there's no place to land.

- Then you can land on the top of a tree

or on a nice, soft mountain
or in a big, deep lake.

I checked those maps you got in the plane.

There isn't even a road around here.

Oh, the folks back home
are gonna be sorry to hear

that you had a plane crash.

In case you was thinking
I forgot something,

I took your parachutes out and your g*n.

Oh, and the radio won't work either.

I'll take my horse. You get out
the other end of the runway.

Just so you don't get any
ideas about stopping down there

and making a run for it, I'll
be here to get you started.

He'll be down there to finish you off

if you don't get off the ground.

- Oh, isn't there
anything you can do, Sky?

- I'll save every drop of gas I can.

Soon as these engines start,
we're gonna be moving.

- No warmup?

- Fasten your belts.

[engine humming]

- Sky, watch out for that mountain!

- [Sky] Penny, I've got to skin it.

I can't waste gas climbing.

- We're going awfully slow.
Are we about to crash?

- The slower we go, the less gas we use.

[alarm buzzing]

- What's that?

- Stall warning. Don't worry about it.

I'm running on as lean
a mixture as I dare.

- Sky, we're nearly out of gas!

- Just a few more feet. Come on, Songbird.

If we can just clear this ridge.

- But there's nothing but mountains.

- There's a shallow lake just
the other side of this ridge.

It may be dry enough to make a landing.

It's our only chance.

[engines sputtering]

- There goes one. What happens now?

- Fed to the prop to reduce
drag. We'll fly on one engine.

[engine sputtering]

- There goes the other one.

- That does it.

[dramatic music]

- They're crashing.

- Let's make sure they're smashed up good.

- There's the lake, and
it looks dry enough.

- [Joe] Can we get there?

- Looks like about two miles.

The Songbird has a
four-to-one glide ratio.

It's gonna be awful close.

[dramatic music]

Here goes.

[tires screeching]

- Sky, we made it! We made it!

- Mr. King, that's the
greatest hunk of flying

I've ever seen.

- Well, kids, we're not out
of the woods yet. Out you go.

- Wow, am I glad to be on solid ground.

- Oh, me too.

- Well, I know it sounds strange
coming from a cattle man,

but for once in my life,
I'm thankful for a drought.

- Do you think they'll
come over here to check up?

- Oh, they're bound to.

Fletcher Lake lies just beyond that ridge.

There's a trail coming down to...

You thinking the same thing I am?

- I sure am.

- Do you want to try it?

- I sure do.

- Let's go.

- What? What are you gonna do?

- Penny, you stay here
and you keep out of sight.

I want 'em real curious.

- Yeah, but what are you gonna do, Sky?

Hey, wait a minute, where are you going?

[dramatic music]

- There's the plane, but it didn't crash.

[dramatic music]

[punches thudding]
[men shouting]

- [Sky] Hold it, Frost.

[wedding music]

[crowd chattering]

- Okay, wait a minute! Wait a minute!

All right, all right, remember
the one who catches this

is going to be the next bride.

[crowd laughing]

- Sky!

[crowd laughing]

Good bye!