Starring
Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry
Guest starring
James Drury as Sheriff Lom Trevors
Karl Malden as Colonel Harper
Tom Burlinson and Singrid Thornton
as Sarah and Will
Tom Cruise as Sean O’Neil
Marilyn Monroe as Lulubelle
Clint Eastwood as Sheriff Henry Blackmore
Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner
as Samuel Harper and Annie
Special Delivery
by Penski
Lom Trevors woke to a persistent knocking on his door. “Who in the heck is here in the middle of the night?” Dressed in his long johns, he sat up and grabbed his gun. “It better be important!”
He quietly made his way to the door and cocked his gun. “Who is it?”
The knocking stopped and he heard a sigh at the other side of the door.
“Just us, Lom. Can we come in?”
Lom remained vigilant as he unlocked the door and peered outside. “Anyone following you?”
“Not since two days ago,” came a weary response from Hannibal Heyes. “We really need a place to rest for a day or two and then we’ll be on our way.”
Lom uncocked his gun and set it on a table and opened the door wide. “Come on in.”
Heyes and Kid Curry slowly walked into the cabin carrying their saddle bags and bed rolls. They were filthy and exhausted.
Trevors looked outside. “Sure no one followed you?”
“We’re sure.” The Kid set his belongings in a corner.
“Where are your horses?”
Heyes sat down at the table, dropping his things. “We were hoping you’d say yes so we already put 'em in the barn and took care of ‘em.”
Lom shook his head as he shut and locked the door. “You two look awful! Either of you hurt?”
“No.” Curry joined his partner at the table.
“Have you eaten?” Trevors asked as he yawned.
Heyes shook his head and yawned, too. “We’re starving.”
“Help yourself to some ham and bread.” Trevors checked the coffee pot. “Still pretty warm.” He poured and handed them two coffees. “Plenty of water in the pail by the stove. Use it to clean up some. I’m going back to bed; we’ll talk in the morning.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Lom Trevors looked in the spare room and saw the two former outlaws still sound asleep in their clothes. They had put a bedroll over the bedding and slept on top. “Must not have wanted to get the bed dirty,” he muttered, then smiled. “I know how to wake ‘em up.”
Heyes and the Kid both sniffed the air in unison. They stretched and made eye contact.
Heyes smiled and took a deep breath. “I smell coffee and bacon.”
“I smell good coffee and biscuits.” Curry grinned.
“Guess we should get up and talk to Lom before he goes to work.”
“Guess we should.”
The two men pulled their pants on and buttoned their shirts before padding barefoot out into the main room of the cabin.
Lom Trevors chuckled when he saw them. “I knew that would wake you up. You didn’t eat too much last night.”
“Too tired to eat more than a ham sandwich.” Kid Curry sat down at the table.
Trevors poured coffee into the three mugs and sat down with the partners. “So, tell me who was chasing you?”
Heyes grabbed a biscuit and took a small bite of bacon before answering. “Bounty hunter – Jasper Jenkins.”
“Jasper Jenkins!” Lom dropped his fork. “He’s good… real good. And a professional.”
“Yeah, we know,” Curry agreed and spooned scrambled eggs on his plate.
Lom picked up his utensil. “Are you sure you lost him?”
“We’re sure.” Heyes took a bite of his biscuit. “He got hurt – not by us – and had to find a doctor.”
“How’d he get hurt?”
“Might have dodged a bullet and tripped.” Heyes shrugged. “Looked like he dislocated his shoulder from what we could see before we hightailed it outta there.”
Lom nodded. “What are your plans?”
“We were hoping to get us and our clothes cleaned today. Rest. Leave probably tomorrow. Don’t want to overstay our welcome. Heyes took a sip of coffee, looking at the lawman over the rim.
“Sounds good.” Lom stood up as he finished drinking his coffee. “I have to get to work. See you two tonight.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Sheriff Trevors arrived home to see two clean friends sitting on the porch enjoying a cigar and a glass of whiskey. A third glass and cigar were waiting for him.
“See you got cleaned up.” Trevors joined them and lit his cigar. “And something smells good.”
The Kid smiled. “While we were at the river washin’ up, I was able to take down three prairie hens. You smell them, along with biscuits and some carrots that we found.”
“Sounds good.” Trevors took a sip of whiskey before lighting his cigar and taking a puff. “Where’d you get the whiskey?”
Heyes blew out some smoke. “Went into town for a few minutes to get supplies before leaving tomorrow. We got the whiskey and cigars and even a fresh baked berry pie as a thank you for letting us stay here to rest up.”
“Any plans where to go?” Trevors asked.
“Just find a job… an honest job,” Curry replied. “Why?”
“Well, it just so happens that I heard from Colonel Harper – you know, FRIEND of the governor Colonel Harper – this morning and he has a delivery job.”
Heyes frowned. “Another job for the governor’s friend. Delivering what?”
“A package to his son in Mill Creek. Doesn’t sound too hard or dangerous.”
“No job involvin’ the governor is good. Why don’t he just have it delivered like most folks would?” Curry asked.
“He didn’t ask specifically for you, just someone trustworthy to get a package delivered by next week Friday.”
“It don’t sound too bad, Kid,” Heyes said with his cigar still in his mouth. “And he is friends with the governor.”
Curry sighed in resignation. “Okay, we’ll do it.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Keeping their mounts to a walk, Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry cautiously made their way through the residential area of Cheyenne at dusk keeping their mounts to a walk. Large Victorian houses lined both sides of the street with lamp posts casting shadows on the ground below.
“Here’s 1010 on Foster Street; it must be the right one,” Heyes said as he looked around.
“Must be,” Curry agreed and dismounted.
After tying their horses to a hitching post in the front, the two men made their way up the walk to an imposing brick house with a large front porch. Heyes knocked on the door.
A large man with a bulbous nose opened the door just a crack, an unlit cigar in his mouth. “Who’s there? What do you want?” he asked in an intimidating tone.
“Colonel Harper?” Heyes removed his hat. “Lom Trevors sent us to deliver a package for you.”
“Smith and Jones?”
“Yes, sir.”
Colonel Harper opened the door wider, the light from the lamp in the Colonel's hand illuminating the two men. “It is you,” he nodded. “Come on in. “Hang your jackets and hats on those hooks and follow me.”
Kid Curry and Heyes quickly removed their outer clothes, hung them up, and followed their host into a den.
Harper sat behind a large mahogany desk. On the other side of the desk were two chairs. He gestured towards them. “Sit. Sit.”
The two visitors took a seat and waited while Harper scrutinized them for a minute.
Heyes smiled. “So, what kind of a delivery do you want us to make?”
“A very special delivery to my son!” the Colonel exclaimed. “And it has to be there for a special event happening in seven days, next week Friday evening.”
Heyes thought a moment. “Seven days to get to Mill Creek shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Can we know what we’re deliverin’?” asked the Kid.
“Something very precious to me. It cannot be lost or stolen; do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.” Heyes nodded his assurance to the other man. “We’ll take good care of it.”
“Good.” Colonel Harper stood and walked over to his safe. “Please turn around.”
Heyes and Kid Curry stood and turned to face the door while Harper turned the dial of his safe. When they heard the safe open, they half-turned back.
“Here it is.” The colonel reached in and pulled out a small, red velvet pouch with a drawstring. He brought it over to his guests and opened a small box inside. “It was my grandmother’s ring.”
Heyes and Curry whistled at the sight of the jewelry.
“Guard it with your life!” Colonel Harper closed the box, put it back in the pouch, and handed it to Heyes. “I’ll have your payment of $200 wired to the bank at Mill Creek. No money if it’s late,” he warned.
“We’ll have it there in time,” Heyes agreed and put the pouch deep in his pants pocket.
“Sir, what’s your son’s name? How will we find him in Mill Creek?” Curry asked.
“Good questions. His name is Samuel Harper. Go to the sheriff’s office and ask for him. They are best friends and are expecting you.”
“Uh, just wondering who the sheriff of Mill Creek is these days?” Heyes inquired.
“Henry Blackmore. Do you know him?”
Heyes and the Kid exchanged a glance, then shrugged.
“Ah, can’t say that we do.” Kid Curry smiled and held out his hand. “We should get back to the hotel so we can get an early start in the mornin’. Nice doin’ business with you again, Colonel Harper.”
Heyes offered his hand. “Colonel Harper. You can count on us to get the ring safely to your son on time.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Kid Curry and Hannibal Heyes traveled on a path of sage-covered prairie with mountains ahead of them and plateaus around them. The dry tall grass waved in the wind under a scorching sun.
Curry took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his face with an arm sleeve. “Sure has been a hot summer.”
“Yep,” Heyes agreed, keeping his head down and protected from the sun. “Hot and dry.”
The Kid glanced at the sky. “Looks like we might be gettin’ some relief.”
Heyes looked up as his partner pointed to the dark clouds near the mountains. “Not looking forward to getting wet, but the rain's needed. Some relief from the heat will be nice, too.”
“Sure will,” Curry agreed. “Guess we'd better start lookin’ for a place to camp before the storm hits.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The sun rose to a clear day and dry ground.
“I’ll be darn,” Heyes exclaimed as they were drinking coffee. “It sure stormed last night with a lot of lightning, but there was barely any rain.”
“It cooled down some with this wind so that’s a good thing.” Curry drained his cup. “You about ready to go?”
“Yep. Let me put out this fire.” Heyes poured the last of the coffee with the grounds over the fire and kicked some dirt over it. “Don’t need a fire starting with it being so windy.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The sun was sinking lower in the sky as Heyes and Curry continued on a path through the tall brown grass bending down, touching the ground from the gusty wind.
“Heyes?”
“Hmm…?” came an answer from under a black hat pulled down low and the stampede straps tied.
“Do you smell somethin'?”
Heyes looked up and sniffed. “Smoke.”
“Yep.” Curry looked around. “It’s there.” He pointed behind them to a cloud of smoke.
“Must’ve been lightning sparking a fire.”
“With this wind blowin’ behind us, it could bring a fire here in no time.” Curry tightened his stampede strings. “We better get movin’, just in case.”
“I’m with you, partner.” Heyes encouraged his horse into a quicker gait.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
“Kid, that looks like a house over there.” Heyes pointed to something in the distance.
“A house?” The Kid squinted. “Where?”
“A sod house,” Heyes clarified.
“Oh, I see it now. We need to make sure they know about the fire comin’ their way.” Curry reined his gelding in that direction.
The two men rode through a field and approached the house.
“Hello! Is anyone here?” Heyes asked in a loud voice.
A rifle barrel could be seen poking out from the window. “You ain’t got no reason to be here so leave!” came a female voice.
Curry raised his hands. “Ma’am, there’s a fire headin’ your way. We just wanted to warn you.”
“A fire?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Heyes continued. “It looks like a large wildfire started from the lightning the other night.”
“Which direction?”
“From the east to the west. You can’t see it because it’s behind you,” the Kid informed her. “It’s movin’ fast, so you might be okay in your sod house. Do you have animals or belongin’s to get in? Is there a man around that we could warn?”
The door opened and a young woman carrying a rifle stood at the entrance. “Don’t you come any closer and keep your hands up!”
“Yes, ma’am,” came two unison answers.
She walked out and to the side, looking behind her sod house. “Oh, my! There is a prairie fire coming! Will won’t be back for another hour or so!”
“Will?” the Kid questioned.
“My husband.” She looked around with a worried expression. “I have to get the animals in so they’re safe. The sewing machine and the table and chairs…”
“Don’t worry, ma’am, we’ll help you,” Curry volunteered.
“Hmmm… Thaddeus, can we talk for a minute?”
“We’ll start bringin’ in the cows,” the Kid informed her.
The woman started emptying the table outside. “I'm sorry,” she apologized. “I don’t even know your names. I’m Sarah and my husband is Will.”
“I’m Thaddeus Jones and this is my partner, Joshua Smith. We’ll be right back.”
Heyes and Curry walked to the corral where two cows were kept.
“Kid, we don’t have time!” Heyes spoke quietly to his partner. “This fire can delay us from getting to Mill Creek on time. That’ll make the Colonel unhappy and that'll make the governor unhappy. We won’t get paid and then we'll be unhappy.”
“Look, you can leave and continue to Mill Creek, but I’m not leavin’ until Sarah's safe.” Curry opened the gate and began getting one of the cows, putting a rope around its neck.
Heyes grumbled, “If we’re late, it’ll be all your fault!” In a louder voice, he said, “Let me get the other one.”
As they led the cows towards the sod house for protection, a man driving a wagon came racing up to the front.
“Who are you?” he demanded. “Where’s my Sarah?”
Sarah came hurrying out from inside the house. “Oh, Will, you came back!” she cried, relief at seeing her husband evident on her face. “There’s a fire…”
“I know, I saw it and turned back. It’s heading this way!” Will pointed to the two men. “Who are they?”
“Joshua Smith.” Heyes held out his hand, then turned to the Kid. “He’s my partner, Thaddeus Jones. We were running from the fire and came to check if everyone was okay at the house.”
“Appreciate you men helping. We’ll put the cows in the back of the lean-to and the wagon in front of them so they can’t get out. Hopefully the fire will go over us quickly.”
“What about the horses?” Curry began unhitching them from the wagon.
“Put them in the house with us,” Will informed them.
The two horses were led into the house and the three men pushed the wagon under the entrance of the lean-to.
“Sorry, but there’s no room inside for your two horses and all four of us. You can let them go to fend for themselves and take coverage inside with us, if you'd like.” Will carried the sewing machine into the house.
Heyes and Curry looked at each other and shook their heads.
“Ah, Will, we have to have our horses. We’re making a special delivery for a friend of the governor’s.”
“We’ll just have to take our chances. Our horses have had some time to rest up,” Curry added.
Will sighed. “I don’t like it, but I understand. There’s a lake about a day’s journey. Head to it and hopefully you can survive the fire by taking refuge in the lake.”
Heyes and Curry mounted their animals.
“Thanks for the suggestion. Which way?” Heyes asked.
Will pointed. “That way. You can’t miss it. Thanks for all your help and I’m sorry…”
“No need to be sorry,” the Kid informed him. “You and Sarah take care.”
“Godspeed!” Will shouted as the two men galloped away. He turned to his wife. “Sarah, help me get a few buckets of water inside, just in case.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The sunset was ablaze with brilliant reds and oranges from the smoke in the sky.
“I can see the flames now!” Curry pointed at the horizon. “It’s gettin’ a lot closer.”
Heyes nodded. “It can get here even faster with this wind gusting behind it.”
“That line of flame seems mighty long.”
“Think the best way is to stay in front of it and hope the wind dies down or turns direction.”
“Gonna be slow travelin’ in the dark,” the Kid commented.
“Do the best we can.” Heyes kicked his horse’s sides.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry tied their bandanas around their faces, trying not to breathe in the thickening smoke when the sun rose as a dark orange ball.
“Fire’s gaining!” Heyes looked around. “We need someplace to shelter, and as soon as possible. Hopefully that lake isn’t too much further.”
The horses snorted and pawed the ground as their ears pinned back.
A few deer quickly sprinted past them and away from the fire.
“They have the right idea. Let’s go!” Curry shouted. His horse needed no further encouragement to run.
Heyes’ horse followed, staying just outside the tree stand.
Kid Curry pointed and yelled. “Think I just spotted our shelter from the fire!”
Heyes looked ahead and nodded. “Finally!”
As they urged their mounts to an even faster pace, a mountain lake came closer and closer into their view. When they arrived at the water's edge, they jumped down from their foaming horses.
“Not a minute too soon! Let them drink, but not much, and get your bed roll,” Heyes said as he began untying his own gear. “We’ll wade in the deeper water. We can use the roll to cover the horses and us from the flames.”
“Not gonna be good to cool 'em down so fast in the lake.” The Kid removed the clothes he had stored in his roll as he opened it up.
“Better than burning.”
Both men dropped their items into the water and weighed them down with a large rock at the edge.
“Let’s go!”
“Your gun!” Kid Curry called out. “We can’t get 'em wet!”
“We don’t have time…”
“We have to make the time!” the Kid insisted. “Never know when we’ll need 'em.” He quickly untied the strap around his thigh and then unbuckled his gunbelt. Rolling it up, he used the rawhide strip to secure it to the saddle horn. “Can’t go deeper than mid-check; the horses’ backs have to be above water.”
“Okay.” Heyes sighed and followed his partner’s example.
The Kid rummaged through his saddlebags and found a box of bullets. “You’ll be drier if I put you here,” he said, placing them in a shirt pocket.
Heyes began pulling his mare into the lake, but the horse balked, snorting, pawing the ground and rolling her eyes. “Come on, girl. You can do it,” he said gently as he rubbed her nose. He grabbed the halter and began leading the animal into the water, talking to her quietly the whole time.
Curry followed suit, encouraging his gelding into the water not far from his partner. “Come on, boy! This is gonna save our lives.” He looked around. “Heyes, there’s some deer and elk in the water, too.”
“Must be the natural thing to do.”
Finally, they were in the water mid-chest, so the horses’ backs were just out of the water.
“Get the roll wet and cover your horse and you. Fire’s at the water’s edge.” Heyes started covering his horse’s back.
“With this wind, it could blow hot embers our way,” the Kid commented as he also covered his horse.
“Yep,” Heyes agreed. “Wouldn’t be surprised if it burned around the lake. Brrr… this water is cold.”
The two partners made eye contact. “Take care, Kid.”
“You, too, Heyes.”
Eyes wild and wide, both horses were frozen with fear and allowed the wet blanket to be placed over their heads. Standing back-to-back, inches from each other, Heyes and Curry covered themselves, too, with the bedroll as they held their animals’ halters.
The high wind carried hot embers into the lake and to the distant shore, where the fire ignited again. Sparks landed on the wet bedrolls and quickly extinguished. The noise of the wind and fire was deafening as it surrounded them. The horses remained frozen while Heyes and the Kid talked soothingly to them.
Sometime later the noise quieted.
“Kid, are you all right?” Heyes tentatively lifted his bedroll and peered out.
“Yeah. How about you?” Curry also raised a corner of the roll.
Brown and blue eyes met and then looked at the devastation around them. Charred ground and trees were everywhere, however, some of the landscape had somehow managed to survive. The land still smoldered in some areas, puffs of smoke rising from the charred remains. The fire continued on the other side of the lake, heading west.
“Looks like the worst is over so we can get out of the water, but we’ll have to be real careful. The ground will still be hot.” Heyes began removing the bedroll from his mare.
Curry followed suit and began leading his gelding to the shore where their belongings were. “Looks like our clothes survived.” He removed the rock holding them down, picked them up, wrung them out as much as possible, and put them across the saddle.
Heyes, meanwhile, was on the shore checking the area while leading his mare. “Need to find some grass for our horses and shelter for us so we can have someplace for our clothes to dry.” He walked carefully around an area that was still smoldering. “Definitely still some hot spots.”
“Hopefully they won’t start on fire again with this wind.” Curry came out of the water and glanced around. “What about over there by those boulders?” He pointed to a formation of large rocks that the fire did not come close by. “We can let our clothes dry on them.”
Heyes walked over to the area his partner pointed out. “Hey, there’s some grass still over here, too, for the horses. Looks like the fire went around the boulders. It’s sheltered enough for us to camp here overnight.”
The men removed their wet saddles and gear before hobbling their animals near the grass and lake.
“Now that the horses are taken care of, we can take care of ourselves. Curry began laying his wet clothes and bed roll on the rocks. “With this wind blowing like it is they should dry quickly.”
Heyes laid out his items and bedroll, too, and then sat on a flat rock to remove his boots. “May as well undress so our boots and clothes that we’re wearing can dry, too.”
Kid Curry looked around. “I doubt we’ll see anyone.” He unbuttoned his shirt and removed it along with his vest. Undoing his button fly jeans, he pulled them down and sat down to remove his boots, jeans, and socks, leaving on his red union suit. “I feel nekkid.”
“We are naked!” Heyes retorted as he spread the last of his clothes on rocks while wearing only his long johns. “It shouldn’t be long before everything is dry and we can put our clothes back on.”
“I wonder what wet jerky and hard tack tastes like.” Curry emptied the rest of his belongings from his saddle bags to dry.
“Like wet jerky and soggy hard tack. It’ll have to be our meal today. The hard tack won’t last long now that it’s wet. Hopefully we come to a town soon.” Heyes rummaged through his own bags, removing all the items so that they could dry and spread them out with the rest. “Coffee beans should still be good.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Great episode, you would think the boys would know by now that they are going to have issues. Glad they were able to escape the fire, get the ring and deliver it in time. Thanks for a wonderful episode.