Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Sidewinder Matter 02/07/1960

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Sidewinder Matter (02/07/1960)
Air Date: May 4, 2026 (Rebroadcast)
Host: Choice Classic Radio

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Episode Overview

In this classic episode of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar," insurance investigator Johnny Dollar is called to Kingman, Arizona, to untangle a deadly dispute over poisoned water troughs on a cattle ranch. As tempers flare and old grudges surface, Dollar must race against nature and human malice to prevent tragedy. The episode is a tense Western detective tale, blending suspense with stark frontier justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Plot Developments

1. The Case Emerges: Poison on the Range

[00:18 - 01:10]

• Johnny Dollar receives a call from Jake Kessler of the Greater Southwest Insurance Company about a $30,000 claim involving Rafe Chisholm's ranch.
• Rafe’s cattle are dying; someone is poisoning his water troughs.
• Jake fears that Rafe, known as a violent character, may be heading toward a deadly confrontation.

Jake Kessler [00:59]: “This whole thing is gonna end up in a killing. Either whoever’s doing this or Rafe himself.”

2. Into Arizona: Teaming Up & Gathering Clues

[03:21 - 04:47]

• Dollar teams up with Buster Favor, a local contact, and they travel toward Chisholm’s ranch.
• They discuss Rafe’s reputation: he’s called “the Sidewinder,” infamous for being as mean as the snake.
• Buster suspects Jerry McCoy, Rafe’s ex-partner from a gold mining venture, as the water poisoner due to their bitter falling-out.

Buster Favor [04:24]: “You ask me, Johnny, ol’ Rafe’d just as soon kill a man as talk to him. The Sidewinder, they call him, and good reason too.”

3. Family in Danger: Mrs. Chisholm’s Plea

[05:49 - 07:14]

• At the ranch, Mrs. Chisholm, Rafe’s worried wife, reveals her son Wayne saw Jerry McCoy poisoning a trough.
• Rafe, upon hearing this, armed himself and rode out after McCoy.
• Mrs. Chisholm is deeply anxious, fearing a deadly confrontation.

Mrs. Chisholm [06:08]: “You gotta do something, Mr. Dollar, about Rafe. You’ve got to stop him.”

• The “mystery knapsack” carried by Rafe is mentioned; its contents are secret and worrying.

4. Tracking in the Desert: Storm and Shots

[09:31 - 13:38]

• Johnny and Buster track Rafe and Wayne through fresh hoofprints.
• Gunshots ring out—did Rafe find McCoy, or did something happen with Wayne?
• A sudden desert sandstorm overtakes them, forcing them and various desert animals to take refuge in a cave.
• The storm is severe, quickly followed by an intense and improbable hailstorm.

Johnny Dollar [13:42]: “Too bad those animals don’t always get along so well… I guess you could say that about some of the people in this world too, couldn’t you?”

5. Confrontation & Twist: The Fate of the Sidewinder

[14:01 - 22:46]

• They discover Wayne, wounded—he reveals his father shot him, although likely not on purpose.
• Wayne recounts what he saw: Rafe finds McCoy skinning a steer. Instead of killing McCoy, Rafe devises a plan to make it look like McCoy got the better of him.
• Rafe orders McCoy to tie him to a post using strips of rawhide from the steer, with the intention of being “rescued” and thus keeping up appearances.
• As McCoy is leaving, he opens Rafe’s mysterious knapsack, only to find it contains rattlesnakes (“sidewinders”). The snakes bite McCoy, ensuring his death.

Wayne Chisholm [21:14]: “There in that knapsack was three sidewinders. Sidewinders? Rattlesnakes.”

• Rafe’s ruse ultimately backfires: he’s left tied to the post with the rawhide. The desert air shrinks the rawhide, strangling Rafe before Johnny and Buster can rescue him.

Buster Favor [22:33]: “Rawhide green steer hide. As it dried out, it shrank tighter and tighter around his body, around his neck, until he... Until...”

Johnny Dollar [22:46]: “Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. And who's to question the ways of justice?”

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Rafe’s Reputation:
  • “The Sidewinder, they call him. And good reason, too. He’s just as mean as a sidewinder.” (Buster Favor, [04:24])
• On Human Nature:
  • “Too bad those animals don’t always get along so well… I guess you could say that about some of the people in this world too, couldn’t you?” (Johnny Dollar & Buster Favor, [13:42])
• On Rafe’s Deadly Plan:
  • “There in that knapsack was three sidewinders. Sidewinders? Rattlesnakes.” (Wayne Chisholm & Johnny Dollar, [21:14])
• On Justice in the Desert:
  • “And who's to question the ways of justice?” (Johnny Dollar, [22:46])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Case Introduction & Call: [00:18–01:10]
• Suspicions & Arrival in Arizona: [03:21–04:47]
• Mrs. Chisholm’s Warnings: [05:49–07:14]
• Tracking Rafe & the Sandstorm: [09:31–13:38]
• Wayne’s Story & the Climax: [16:27–22:46]

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Conclusion

The Sidewinder Matter delivers a taut, suspenseful Western mystery with a hard edge of Old West justice. Johnny and Buster’s pursuit is dramatically interwoven with the harsh realities of the desert and the consequences of revenge and violence. The poetic, almost biblical conclusion—both villains dying by the consequences of their plotting—emphasizes the moral ambiguity and relentless fate so common in the Golden Age of radio storytelling.

Listeners are left with the haunting reminder: “And who’s to question the ways of justice?”

Transcript

[Johnny Dollar]

Welcome to Choice Classic Radio where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows.

[Buster Favor]

Like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for [e-mail].

[Johnny Dollar]

Johnny Dollar.

[Jake Kessler]

Johnny, this is Jake Kessler. You know Greater Southwest Insurance Company out

[Johnny Dollar]

there in Kingman, Arizona.

[Jake Kessler]

That's right.

[Johnny Dollar]

Well, hiya, Jake. What's on your mind?

[Jake Kessler]

One of my clients, Johnny, insured for $30,000.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Hey.

[Jake Kessler]

Has a little cattle ranch. Name is Rafe Chisholm.

[Johnny Dollar]

Rafe Chisholm?

[Jake Kessler]

That's right. Owns a Circle RC layout. Lays over between here and that lake Mojave resort. You're always going.

[Johnny Dollar]

What's the trouble? He losing some of his cattle?

[Jake Kessler]

Oh, losing plenty of them. They're being poisoned.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Oh.

[Jake Kessler]

Only it's not them steers I'm worried about. It's Rafe.

[Johnny Dollar]

What do you mean, Johnny?

[Jake Kessler]

I just found out that he just found out who's been contaminating them water troughs.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah?

[Johnny Dollar]

Who? Jake? He won't say.

[Jake Kessler]

But listen, if he really does. Well, I know Rafe Chisholm pretty good.

[Johnny Dollar]

Johnny.

[Jake Kessler]

He's a bad character. I wished I'd never sold him insurance.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah.

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah.

[Jake Kessler]

Well, if he does know. Well, Johnn, this whole thing is going to end up in a killing. Either whoever's doing this or Rafe himself.

[Johnny Dollar]

The circle. I see.

[Jake Kessler]

That's right. So will you come out here and see what you can do about it right away?

[Johnny Dollar]

Sure.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Okay.

[Johnny Dollar]

Cheek. I'll be there. CBS radio brings you Bob Bailey in the exciting adventures of the man with the action packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Thirsty people everywhere prefer ice cold Pepsi Cola. And because it's light, it refreshes without filling.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Charlie, be sociable.

[Johnny Dollar]

I am.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Kay.

[Johnny Dollar]

Pepsi is a favorite of thirsty people from Maine to Hawaii, from Alaska to Florida.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Charlie.

[Johnny Dollar]

It's perfect for parties or picnics. So serve Pepsi to your guests. That's helpful, but this is the sociable part. Keep plenty of Pepsi, ice cold and ready. Remember, it goes fast because everybody likes Pepsi.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Singing still sounds more inviting. May I be sociable? Look smart. Keep up to date with Pepsi. Drink light, refreshing Pepsi. Stay young and fair. Air down air, be sociable, have a pumpkin.

[Johnny Dollar]

But singing doesn't say, pick up an extra carton of Pepsi today. Better yet, get a case.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

You do that.

[Johnny Dollar]

And now act one of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Expense account. Submitted by special investigator Johnny Duller to the Greater Southwest Insurance Company, Kingman, Arizona. The following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Sidewinder matter. Jake Kessler hadn't given me very much to go on. But of my old friend, Buster Favor. If Buster knew about the Circle RC and its troubles. Well, expense account item one is 350 for a phone call to Davis Dam 72, the Lake Mojave Resort.

[Buster Favor]

I sure do know about that water poisoning over at the Circle RC, Johnny. After all, it's only 50 or 60 miles from here. Good.

[Johnny Dollar]

Then, Buster, I hope you can get

[Buster Favor]

on out here before somebody gets killed over it.

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah, that's about the way Jake Kessler put it to me. So, how'd you like to meet me at the airport over in Vegas?

[Buster Favor]

Be glad to.

[Johnny Dollar]

All right now, Buster, the best connection I can make will get me in there at 6 o' clock in the morning. Okay.

[Buster Favor]

I'll be waiting for you, Johnny. Good.

[Johnny Dollar]

Item 216390. Plane fair to Las Vegas, Nevada. True to his word, Buster Favor was there waiting for me in his car. We headed east on Route 95 to Boulder City and turned south toward Kingman. And I wondered just how much food there was for a herd of beef cattle out here in this seemingly bare desert country.

[Buster Favor]

For sure it's a problem, Johnny. But a much bigger one is keeping them supplied with enough water. See those windmills here and there?

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah, I've noticed them.

[Buster Favor]

Well, every one of them has a big water tank and a watering trough at the base of it. Without them, those Herefords all die off. We turn here.

[Johnny Dollar]

All right. Jake Kessler said this Rafe Chisholm is a pretty bad charact.

[Buster Favor]

You ask me. Johnny Uraved just soon kill a man as he wouldn't talk to him. The Sidewinder, they call him. And good reason, too. He's just as mean as a sidewinder. That's why nobody was very happy to see him politic himself into a lease on that good ranch land with all the water it's got on it. Doubt if a single one of his pumps ever goes dry. Which is more than you can say for most of the wells out here, believe me.

[Johnny Dollar]

But now somebody's poisoning the water for him.

[Buster Favor]

That's right.

[Johnny Dollar]

Any idea who?

[Buster Favor]

No doubt about it.

[Johnny Dollar]

Who, Buster?

[Buster Favor]

His ex. Partner in a gold mine. Bad character. Name is Jerry McCoy. Was by cheating Mack out of his chair. The man that Chisholm got the money to lease the ranch.

[Johnny Dollar]

I see.

[Buster Favor]

And Mac swore if he ever caught up with Chisholm, he'd get even with him. Ask me, Johnny Mack has caught up with him.

[Johnny Dollar]

As Western cattle ranches go, it apparently wasn't a very large one. But Must have pointed out where the fence line extended nearly two miles back into the mountains at the east end of it. As we neared the ranch house, I could see what he meant about the water. There were more trees and green than I'd seen anywhere else in this desert country. The ranch house itself was a sprawling, unpainted affair, but there was a flower garden at the side that appeared to be doing quite well. A dozen or so chickens pecking away at the dirt. As we stopped, a woman came running out of the door, came over to meet us.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, it's you, Mr. Favor.

[Buster Favor]

Howdy. Ms. Chisholm, I'd like you to meet Mr. Johnny Dollar.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Howdy, Mr. Dollar.

[Buster Favor]

Listen, Johnny's a special investigator for your husband's insurance company.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, then you gotta do something, Mr. Dollar. Do something? About my husband? About Ray?

[Johnny Dollar]

Well, he's the one I came to see. Is he here?

[Wayne Chisholm]

No. No.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

That's the reason you've gotta do something about him. You've got to stop him.

[Johnny Dollar]

From what?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, it was about an hour ago that my son come in from out on the range. My son, Wayne. Wayne had been over along the eas, fixing to repair a broken post. But instead he come on back here and told his pa. Told Ray?

[Johnny Dollar]

Told him what, Mrs. Chisholm?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Jerry McCoy. Wayne had saw McCoy out there fooling around the trough at the windmill. Fixing to poison it, he must have been.

[Buster Favor]

And it is McCoy.

[Johnny Dollar]

Well, what did your husband do about it?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, he. He grabbed his pistol, that old.45 and that knapsack of his, and he rode out there after him. Rafe will kill him, Mr. Dollar, or he'll get killed himself. Mr. Dollar?

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah.

[Johnny Dollar]

Knapsack, did you say?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Yes, sir, that. That knapsack.

[Johnny Dollar]

Why do you say it that way? What's in it?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

I don't rightly know, Mr. Dollar. Last few days, ever since he heard that McCoy was in these parts, he wouldn't let anybody touch it. He's kept it hid away.

[Johnny Dollar]

That's funny, Ms. Chisholm.

[Buster Favor]

You think Wayne could show us where it was he saw Jerry McCoy?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

I don't know where he is. Wayne has gone out somewheres too, and I'm sorry. Worried about him.

[Johnny Dollar]

Why do you say that, Mrs. Cheskel?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

With Rafe and the kind of temper he's in, anybody got in his way or tried to stop him? Rafe's a dangerous man, Mr. Dollar, and he's got that gun with him.

[Johnny Dollar]

But his own son.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

You don't know that, Rafe, mister.

[Johnny Dollar]

And we better find him quick.

[Buster Favor]

We'll have to track him Johnny. Ms. Chisholm, are there a couple of extra horses we can use?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, yes, help yourself.

[Buster Favor]

A lot better than a car out there in that mesquite and sage. Come on. And maybe we'll find Wayne for you, too.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Oh, I hope so, Mr. Caver. I hope he's all right.

[Buster Favor]

Yes, sir, I hope so, too. But with that crazy man out there with a gun.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah.

[Johnny Dollar]

Come on, buster. It looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Are you smoking more now but enjoying it less Have a real cigarette have

[Wayne Chisholm]

a Camel the best tobacco make the

[Johnny Dollar]

very best smoke have a real cigarette

[Buster Favor]

have a Camel Are you looking for flavor and mildness?

[Johnny Dollar]

Have a real cigarette have a Camel

[Wayne Chisholm]

to back tobacco make the very best

[Johnny Dollar]

smoke have a real cigarette, a real cigarette, a real cigarette have Camel

[Wayne Chisholm]

again

[Johnny Dollar]

for the 11th straight year, Camel outsold every other cigarette filter. King size and regular. The best tobacco makes the best smoke so if you're smoking more now but enjoying it less Change to Camels get more real satisfaction every time Start to really enjoy smoking again have a real cigarette, a real cigarette, a real cigarette have a Camel. And now act two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the Sidewinder matter.

[Buster Favor]

Yeah. Yeah. Johnny, I was afraid of this.

[Johnny Dollar]

Afraid of what?

[Buster Favor]

Those tracks down there. Those hoof prints.

[Johnny Dollar]

I still don't see how you spot a buster among all the cattle tracks and the other hoof prints.

[Buster Favor]

A real fresh Johnny and Rafe's mount. Turns out his left forefoot a little. See it there?

[Johnny Dollar]

No.

[Buster Favor]

The other tracks that follow his. That must be the boy's horse. If Wayne catches up with him or old Rafe sees he's being followed. You got a gun with you, haven't you?

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah, right here.

[Buster Favor]

Good. But I sure hope you don't have.

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah, I heard gunshot. Huh? Crystal shot.

[Buster Favor]

Must have been that.45 Rafe's carrying.

[Johnny Dollar]

And it probably means that he's found McCoy.

[Buster Favor]

Or you discovered that Wayne's trailing him.

[Johnny Dollar]

Only we had some way of knowing where that shot came from.

[Buster Favor]

Only hadn't been so busy talking my fool head off so. Well, I guess the only thing we can do is to keep following those trails.

[Johnny Dollar]

Oh, boy.

[Buster Favor]

Johnny, that shot came from over there at Black Canyon. Way over there to the right, Rafe has a windmill and a water trough and an old feed shack, too.

[Johnny Dollar]

Let's go. What's the matter?

[Buster Favor]

Look over there. The top of that mesa.

[Johnny Dollar]

Those big dust clouds building up.

[Buster Favor]

I knew this here was too. Still out here, Johnny, that dust over the mesa coming this way means that inside of five, maybe 10 minutes we're gonna be in the middle of the worst sandstorm you ever heard of.

[Johnny Dollar]

We better get on back to the ranch. We never make it.

[Buster Favor]

We gotta find cover.

[Johnny Dollar]

Come on, boy.

[Buster Favor]

But where, Buster?

[Johnny Dollar]

Over there on the right.

[Buster Favor]

Shadow Mountain.

[Johnny Dollar]

Big cave inside of it and let's go, brother. Come on, boy, huh?

[Buster Favor]

Just pray we can make it, Johnny. And believe me, I mean pray.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Get out.

[Johnny Dollar]

It was less than a mile to the cave on the side of Shadow Mountain. But by the time we'd covered half the distance, the sandstorm came roaring in on us. The hot, dry wind pounded and pummeled us at 50 or 60 miles an hour, hurling clouds of blinding cutting sand ahead of it. How the horses were able to take this, I'll never know. Fen blowing the saddle, our hats pulled down with handkerchiefs over our faces, we not only couldn't see, we could hardly breathe. As the storm got worse, we were forced to dismount, to cover the heads of the horses with our coats to lead them on foot. But we kept on. And I prayed that Buster still knew where he was going. Buster, whom I could track only by hanging onto the tail of the horse that he was leading. Then finally, the lee of Shadowmount, the life saving protection afforded by the deep cave on the side of it. And there to keep us company were other fugitives from the sandstorm. Half a dozen jackrabbits, a couple of coyotes, a fox and several kinds of rats and mice huddled together silently, forgetting for the moment all the ancient instinctive enmities in their escape from the peril outside of the cave. And the wind roared with the sound of thunder, as though shrieking its anger, its frustration at having failed to smother us out there, as though now trying to deafen us with its sheer power. As we crouch there, the horses stayed close to us, making strains, sounds, little sounds that I'd never heard before. It was almost like the whimpering of a frightened child. Then, after what seemed like ages, but could only have been a couple of hours, the wind subsided as suddenly as it had come up. I started to rise, but Buster touched my arm and motioned me to wait. And then came the hail. A hail storm of the kind you may hear about and never quite believe, right here in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Hail, some of them almost as big as golf balls, dashed against the rocks outside. And some of those hailstones rolled into the cave, then melted at our feet. Finally, it stopped. The little animals who'd been our companions quietly looked at one another, then, one at a time, departed Maybe. Maybe a little chastened by this. Having shared the comfort of each other's presence for a while.

[Buster Favor]

Well, Johnny, kind of gives you a respect for this desert, doesn't it?

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah. Too bad those animals don't always get along so well, so peacefully, isn't it?

[Buster Favor]

I guess you could say that about some of the people in this world too, couldn't you? Well, we lost our trail. But we know where those shots came, Johnny.

[Johnny Dollar]

Now what?

[Buster Favor]

Half under that rock. The one that blocks the entrance.

[Johnny Dollar]

Somebody lying there. Buster must have come in during the storm.

[Buster Favor]

Wayne. Tell me it's young Wayne Chisholm.

[Jake Kessler]

Wayne. Wayne.

[Buster Favor]

Are you all right, boy?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Hello, Mr. Fever.

[Johnny Dollar]

You're hurt. Wayne. You've been shot. Who did this?

[Wayne Chisholm]

My pa.

[Johnny Dollar]

Your pa? Rafe Chisholm.

[Wayne Chisholm]

I'll be all right. What happened? It was terrible.

[Buster Favor]

Tell us, boy, tell us.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Terrible. Terrible.

[Johnny Dollar]

Act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. In a moment, meet star Stuart Irwin.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Nothing's worse for an actor than a nasty cold.

[Johnny Dollar]

To feel better quickly, I take wonderful

[Wayne Chisholm]

four way cold tablets. A fast way to relieve cold distress.

[Johnny Dollar]

Right. Tests of all the leading cold tablets proved four way fastest acting. Four way starts in minutes to relieve muscular pains, headache, reduce fever, calm upset stomach. Also overcomes irregularity. Take my advice for your next cold,

[Wayne Chisholm]

take four way coal tablets.

[Johnny Dollar]

The fast way to relieve those cold miseries. Four way only 29 cents.

[Jake Kessler]

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[Johnny Dollar]

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[Wayne Chisholm]

Yes, sir, but it's all right. He only nicked me.

[Buster Favor]

What happened, Wayne?

[Johnny Dollar]

I don't think he meant to hit me. Mr. Faber. Well, but when he saw that I'd

[Wayne Chisholm]

followed him after he got there looking for Jerry McCoy.

[Johnny Dollar]

Did he find McCoy?

[Wayne Chisholm]

Well, he told me to go back, and he cursed me. And he fired a couple of wild

[Johnny Dollar]

shots at me, the three we heard.

[Wayne Chisholm]

But I don't think he meant to hit me.

[Johnny Dollar]

I wonder.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Then I hid behind some deer brush,

[Johnny Dollar]

then worked my way down again so

[Wayne Chisholm]

as I could see what he was doing.

[Johnny Dollar]

What about McCoy?

[Wayne Chisholm]

Pa found him all right. There in the feed shack there in Black Canyon, where he was skinning out

[Johnny Dollar]

one of our young steers in there

[Wayne Chisholm]

out of the sun.

[Buster Favor]

Okay, then, Johnny. We better get on over.

[Johnny Dollar]

Now, wait, wait, buster. Then what happened, Wayne?

[Wayne Chisholm]

It was terrible, mister. It was awful. I was close enough I could see him. I could hear him through the open window of the feed shack. You think I didn't know all the time it was you, McCoy, that was poisoning the water for my catt. Yeah, Well, I told you I'd get even for what you'd done to me over in that gold mine, Rafe. And now I've got you. Just. No, no, no. Now put down that gun. Don't. Don't kill me, Rafe. Kill ya? And get myself in real trouble.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Then put it down.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Put it away.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

See, I got no gun on me.

[Wayne Chisholm]

I oughta kill you, Mac. I've been thinking about this a long time. About what I'd do when I caught you.

[Johnny Dollar]

That's.

[Wayne Chisholm]

What's the use. What's the use of killing? Here. Now, listen. Listen, Rafe. I'll make it up to you for the catalog. Make it up?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Yeah.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Insurance takes care of that. So, Mac, I'm gonna let you go. Yeah. Mean, you ain't gonna turn me over to the police? Only if you do exactly what I tell you to do.

[Buster Favor]

Yeah.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah, Rafe, I'll do anything. Sure you will, because I got this gun on you. Now start cutting a lot of strips, a lot of thongs off of that steer hide. You gonna tie me up? You gonna leave me out here to die? Well, I can tell you. Go ahead. Or maybe I will pull this trigger. But you said you'd let me go. Eh, hurry up. You're gonna need a lot of them. Me what? I don't understand you. You think I'd want anybody to know I let you go? The man that was poisoning my cattle. Keep cutting them strips. I am, Rafe.

[Mrs. Chisholm]

I am.

[Wayne Chisholm]

It's gotta look like you got the best of me, T. What? You're gonna tie me up to this post in here. Tie you up? Go ahead. Do like I tell you. Go ahead, Max. Unless you want a bullet in your head, go ahead. All right. Pull them strips around my ankle. Tighter. All right. Sure. Put another one around my neck, around the post. But this is some trick on me, Ray. Ain't no trick. But now listen, a couple days out of here with no water, through die.

[Johnny Dollar]

Come on. Tighter.

[Wayne Chisholm]

I still got this gun on you. But I'm no cure, Ray. You won't be. Cause a couple hours and that boy of mine will be back here with help. You see me tied up this way, they'll never know I got soft and

[Johnny Dollar]

let you get away.

[Wayne Chisholm]

I still don't. I won't trust you.

[Jake Kessler]

Did you.

[Wayne Chisholm]

You got no choice here. Yeah. You'll never get loose unless they come out and cut you loose. You think I'd take this chance if I didn't know they would? You get out of here. The wind's coming up and there's going to be a sandstorm. All right, I will. And here. Your gun. That's right.

[Johnny Dollar]

Take it.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Cause I know you ain't got the guts to use it on me. And it's better if you think you took it off me. I don't get it, Rafe, but I better get out of here before they come for you. That's right. You can take my horse, too. Your horse, too, huh?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Well, sure.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Sure, I will. Don't touch that knapsack out there on the ground. Knapsack? My Rafe, that's one you carried when we was prospecting. You, you mean? No. Any nuggets in that or mine, Mac?

[Mrs. Chisholm]

Nuggets, fool.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Ah, yeah. Some of the gold you cheated me out of, huh? I'll see for myself. No, Mac. You open that knife sack and you'll be sorry, Eh? Will I? Well, you can't stop me tied up that way. You can't stop me because now what's in here rightly belongs to me. And there. There in that knapsack was three sidewinders.

[Johnny Dollar]

Sidewinders? Rattlesnakes.

[Wayne Chisholm]

Good Lord, McCoy. He. He didn't have a chance. Good Lord, there was enough poison in him.

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah. And not knowing that you'd seen all this, but knowing you'll come back with help and we'll find him tied up there.

[Buster Favor]

Yeah. Johnny Race made it look like he has a perfect alibi. Not that McCoy didn't deserve to die.

[Johnny Dollar]

Poisoning cattle, it's still murder. Buster Wayne, do you think you can make it to the ranch?

[Jake Kessler]

Yes, sir.

[Johnny Dollar]

Then come on, Buster. We'll go on to Black Canyon. We'll pick up our killer.

[Buster Favor]

Okay, Johnny Ironic. Isn't it?

[Wayne Chisholm]

Yeah.

[Johnny Dollar]

All trussed up and waiting for us by his own. It was late in the afternoon by the time we reached the watering trough from the old feed shack. And the body of Jerry McCoy already half buried by the sandstone. And I wondered what sort of punishment could possibly be enough for the man who'd done this to him. Yeah, I wondered until we found Rafe Chisholm tied to that post.

[Buster Favor]

Wait a minute, Johnny. We're too late.

[Johnny Dollar]

I know.

[Buster Favor]

Rawhide green steer hide. As it dried out, it shrank tighter and tighter around his body, around his neck, until he. Until.

[Johnny Dollar]

Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. And who's to question the ways of justice? Expense account total, including a couple of drinks for Buster and myself on the trip Back to Hartford. 3, 4, 5, 4, 0. Yours truly, Johnny D. And now here's our star to tell you about next week's program. Next week, Long Beach, California. Looking for the tidy sum of $75,000. Join us, won't you? Yours truly, Johnny Dollar.