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What do you think makes the perfect snack? Hmm, it's gotta be when I'm really craving it and it's convenient. Could you be more specific? When it's cravenient. Okay, like a freshly baked cookie made with real butter, available right down the street at a.m. p.m. Or a savory breakfast sandwich I can grab in just a second at a.m. p.m. I'm seeing a pattern here. Well, yeah, we're talking about what I crave, which is anything from am pm. What more could you want? Stop by AM PM where the snacks and drinks are perfectly craveable and convenient. That's cravenience. Am pm Too much. Good stuff. Foreign welcome to the Old time radio Westerns. I'm your host, Andrew Rines. And before we get into this episode, I wanted to remind you to check out our other western podcasts, released daily by going to otrwesterns.com or searching OTR Westerns in your podcast app of choice. I also wanted to invite you to check out our other podcast channel releasing non western shows by going to otnetcast.com or by searching otnetcast in your podcast app of choice. Now let's get into this episode. This episode is going to be have Gun Will Travel Original air dates October 30, 1960 and the title is oil. Hope you enjoy. The boy is offering $10,000 for your property, whether you sell it or not. I'm here to see that he doesn't get robbed. Have Gun will travel starring Mr. John Dana as Paladin San Francisco, 1875. The Carlton Hotel. Headquarters of a man called Paladin. Mr. Paladin. Mr. Paladin. Over here. Hey boy. Oh, there you are. Some. You look very comfortable. Yes, I was very comfortable, But I really didn't think it would last too long. What do you want? Hey boy? A gentleman wants to see you about a job. Maybe so. Hey boy, I'm not looking for a job today. I'm tired. See if you can get rid of him. Too late. Why, ma'? Am. Follow me. Over here. See? Oh, no. Ah, there you are. Mr. Paladin. Yes. You don't remember me, do you, sir? No, I'm afraid not. It's been quite a few years. But I remember you. My name's F. Milton Gardner. F. Milton Gardner? Yes, sir. Roger Gardner's son? That's right. Well, you've grown two feet since I saw you last. Sit down. Sit down. Oh, thank you. You don't need me anymore, Mr. Paladin? No, thank you. That'll be all, hey boy. Well, f. What Brings you into San francisco? I'm looking for advice, Mr. Paladin. And my father always said you were the man to come to if I ever needed help. Yes, I was sorry to learn your father died. F. What have you been doing Since I finished school, I promised him I'd do that. But. Well, I'm afraid I haven't accomplished too much since then. Well, sometimes it takes a while to find the right niche. You see, father left me quite a sum of money. And I've. I've tried to follow in his footsteps, but I haven't been too successful. I've invested in a number of schemes, expecting to make a profit. But it's not easy, is it? No, sir, Mr. Paladin. I need your advice in what could be a final investment. What is it? Well, I've got a newspaper clipping here. Read this, sir. For sale. Cheap oil producing property. Must sell Chance to make a fortune. Contact Claude spicer. Reward California. Reward California? Where's that? It's in the joaquin valley. There have been a lot of oil discoveries there. Well, now, f. I don't know much about the oil business, but maybe you could see that I don't get swindled again. If you could go with me to reward, and things work out as I hope they will, I'll give you a share. A royalty, I believe they call it. Could be worth a fortune. Sounds tempting. Then you'll do it? Only on certain conditions. Anything you say. That you'll take my advice even if I tell you not to buy the land? Oh, I'll leave the negotiations entirely up to you. And you must not hand out any royalties, even to me. If this turns out as well as you expect it to, I'll send you a bill. Fair enough? Fair enough, Mr. Paladin. From San francisco, F. Milton gardner and I journeyed south aboard the schooner alley May. Along the coast, we stopped at santa Cruz, Monterey and finally san luis obispo. There we met a little man by the name of cobb watson. He was taking a wagon load of pipe into reward and said that we could ride along. We traveled in silence most of the way, and eventually passed through a steaming valley that showed a slimy surface which looked like blue black mud to me. But cobb assured us it was surface evidence of oil. Later, we pulled up on the main street of the war. Well, this is it. End of the line. Thanks very much, Mr. Watson. Anytime, Sonny. Yes, thank you, cop. I suppose you'll be looking for some mild property to lease. Don't nobody come to reward for nothing else. The Fact is, we've come to see about some land that's for sale. For sale, huh? Yeah. Who you dealing with? His name is spicer. Claude Spicer? Yeah. You know him? Sure, I know him. Everybody does. There he sits over there. Where? See them two fellas sitting over there in front of the general store? Yeah. Well, the big fat one whittling on the stick, that's claude spicer. The fellow with him is doc belden. They're kind of a corporation. How's that? Well, doc belden is an old retired horse doctor. Claude's on his last legs, and doc keeps him alive a day at a time. What's the matter with him? Well, too much fat, if you ask me. That don't keep him from being clever as a fox. You just watch your step with claude spicer. Thanks for the advice. Well, I got to get these pipes delivered. Good luck to you. You've been very helpful, Cod. Oh, say, if you should find some good island, look me up. I'm an expert at hand drilling. Now, come on there. Hurry up. Come on. That's so long. Watch our step, huh? Yeah. Well, let's go find out why. Come on. Hello. You know, we're here to talk to Mr. Spicer. I'm Doc belden. This is claude spicer. So we were told. Somebody. Somebody say my name? Doc. Ah, easy, claude. There's a couple of strangers around here. To your left. Oh, you men. Men, come around front so I can see you. That's better. We're from San Francisco, Mr. Spicer. Whoa. Seen the ad, did you? Yes, sir. I'm F. Milton gardner, and this is Mr. Paladin. We've come to buy your land. Good, good. Mr. Spicer, is there somewhere we could go and talk over this? Business right here is good. It's good enough. Doc, is murphy in town today? Yeah, I seen him hanging around the blacksmith. Don't let him get away. Truth is, mister, what's your name? Paladin. Truth is, I think you're too late. Got another party looking at it. Take it easy, claude. Another party? So if you wanted that quick, you get down to the livery stable and ask her for spicers horses. Where's the property? Old stable boy will tell you. Yeah, well, all right, if that's the way you do business. Come on, Eph. No, no, you go, Mr. Paladin. I don't want to influence your decision in any way. I'll go check into the hotel. All right. I'll talk to you when you get back. I hope you hope you brought your money. That's the boy who's buying. I'm here to see that he gets a fair deal. Oh, good, good. Well, I'll let you know how good it is after I see the property. Goodbye. Yeah, bye. Well, Claude, what do you think? Get Murphy, Doc, get Murphy. Oh, you ain't gonna need him. Freddy too. My Sid. Tell him to get right out to the well and do the usual. I'm going over to the hotel and talk to that boy. Why? Oh, he's the one that's doing the the buying. Didn't you hear him, City dud? There's frost on the pumpkin and Halloween is here again. Yes, come Monday night, your doorbell will be a buzzing with trick or treaters. So now, right now, why not stock up on plenty of Sylvania Blue Dot flash bulbs so that on the night of Halloween you can capture all the fun, all the color, all the excitement. 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And over a forbidding looking hole in the ground perched a dilapidated drilling platform with a sign proudly proclaiming this as Spicer's number one. I dismounted and proceeded to take a closer. Oh, no, you don't. That enough. Answer me or I'll shoot again. You stay away from that well. You are. I'm find the land for myself. Maybe not. Come down here and talk this over. Or how'd you rather shoot it out? Oh, now that be a sport. You're supposed to run, throw down your rifle and walk to towards me. It's not fair. You are. You do it. All right, all right. Here it is. Now Walk here. I have to say, it is an unfair advantage you've taken. Unfair? You started shooting at me. You're supposed to run tail when I shoot. All the others did. The others I ain't supposed to tell, but you got me dead to rights. I might as well tell you the whole story. Murphy's me name. What's yours? Paladin. Glad to meet the likes of you, Paladin. You sure know how to handle a gun. Start talking, murphy. Well, spicer pays me to come out here and shoot at them what's come to buy the property. I'm to keep them from getting a good look at this dry hole. When I hollers that I want the land for myself, it makes them greedy. I see. Then they rush back to spicer to buy the land, Is that it? That way, he gets their first money, the down payment. You know, lad, you're the first one to shoot back. I like you for that. Here, let me show you something. Come here. What is it? Look in the hole. See the aisle? Yeah. I saw that before you started shooting at me. That is the teaser. Now, look closer. You see that pipe? Yeah. There's a plug in the end of it. Kind of hard to see for the oil. When we pull that plug, there's lots more oil. Well, this is a dry hole. How does he manage that? By storing a thousand barrels of oil on yonder hill. He just pipes it over to this spot. Ah, I see. Hey, did you pull that plug in the pipe? No, in. It's busted. Look at the oil oozing out of there. Yeah. See? You don't suppose there's any chance? It couldn't be. Not out here. Old spicer must be getting desperate. Another of his tricks. You can be sure of that. Maybe. Murphy, I think I'd better get back to town. I remembered cobb. Watson said he knew how to use a hand drill. I needed him now. Finding him was a fairly simple matter. He agreed to go out with me to inspect spicer's number one. When he saw what was coming out of the ground, he became very excited and nervously paced the area, scanning the horizon for signs known only to himself. Occasionally, he would stoop and sift handfuls of dirt through his fingers. Finally, he took off his hat and filled it to the brim with the black substance that oozed from the hole. It could be good. This is liquid asphaltum. The ground shows sulfur remnants. We might even hit lubrication crude, if we drill deep enough. Cobb, if you owned this land, would you drill on it? I would and if I didn't own it, I'd try to buy it. Well, if I get this land, would you boss the drilling job? I ain't much on bossing, but I can drill that hole deeper than any man in these parts. I'll do it for you. Good. Think you can get title to the land? That'll be the easiest thing. We'll have to. Now, let me. Let me get this straight. You want this boy to buy the land? That's right. Here's a draft on my bank in San Francisco for $10,000, Mr. Spicer. It's a lot of money, boy. What are you stalling for? Claude? Take it. No, hold on, doc. Paladin. The boy tells me you're a gunfighter. Only when I have to be. What about old Murphy? You run into him out there? Yes, I did. Murphy. He must have thought a tornado hit him. You didn't kill him? No, he's all right. Good. What about him? Mr. Spicer? You selling? Of course he's selling. Hold on. I so sure I'm gonna sell this. This boy, I like him. Go on. He's offering $10,000, Mr. Spicer. I know, but I wouldn't want to see him robbed. Is there any chance you're thinking of swindling this boy? Paladin? He's my friend, Mr. Spicer. You can't ever be sure, boy. Look, Spicer, you said the property was for sale. We've come all the way from san francisco. Right? All right, I'll take the check. But tell me something. What makes you think it is such a goodbye, huh? Like you said, the well is already producing. Producing? Oh, sure. That's right, it is. Why, you know, I'll bet you you could get a hut thousand barrels out there your first day. Lucy, if anyone phones me tonight, I'm not home. Oh, dear. All week you've been coming home like this, cross and tired. If you'd had my nagging backache with restless, sleepless nights, you'd feel worn out, too. But why just complain of backache? Do something. What? Try doan's pills. Right. Doan's pills are an analgesic and mild diuretic to the kidneys. Nagging backache? Also headache, dizziness and muscular aches and pains may come on with overexertion, emotional upsets, or everyday stress and strain. Doan's pain relieving action is often the answer. And they also offer mild diuretic action through the kidneys. So if nagging backache is making you feel worn out, tired and Miserable with restless, sleepless nights. Don't wait. Try doan's pills, used successfully by millions for over 60 years. See if they don't bring you the same welcome relief. Get doan's pills today to save money by doan's big economy size. For six weeks, F& I helped Cobb watson construct a drilling rig. And every morning, Claude spicer and doc belden would drive out on the buckboard to watch us work. And they'd stay all day with spicer sitting in a pile of blankets in the wagon bed. Occasionally, he'd break into uncontrolled laughter, and doc would drive him off a ways to settle him down. Afterwards, they'd come back and take up their vigil once again. Finally, the day came. I was leading the horse, pulling the cross piece on the drill, while cobb and F handled the drill. Pull pipe at the hole. Come on. Come on, boy. Come on. Come on. Keep moving. Alan, wait. What's the matter? Come here. What's going on, mission? What does it mean, Mr. Watson? It means we've hit it, boy. Pallet. And get that horse on hitch. And hurry. I got to get these tools r if it ain't too late. All right. Easy, boy. Easy now. It's all right. It's all right. Come on, on. Hurry up, P. We'll have to leave the tool. She going to blow up. Hurry. Come on. Run. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on, too. Hey. Now, this will be fair enough. Now. Now, watch. Look at that palace. Prettiest one I ever seen. Congratulations, boy. You finally did it. Brought in by. Well, aren't you a little mistaken? Don't get yourself all worked up. Oh, come on, now. Don't spoil my bun. I've been waiting a long time for this. I want to thank you. I want. I want to thank Doug. Doc, help me. Give me a hand. Quick. Grab him. I've got him. Get some water up. Yes, sir. Never mind, boy. Water won't help now. Well, my will. Sucker. Gee, that. That's a shame, Mr. Paladin. I know this was gonna happen. Tried to tell him. He just wouldn't listen to me. Doc, what did Mr. Spicer mean when he said it was his oil? Oh, this was. This was claude's last joke. Joke? Sure, son. You know that bank draft you give him? Yeah. Well, it's down in my safe. He gave it to me to keep. He never banked it. He didn't want to cheat you none. And that title he gave you, that was a fake. A fake? You mean the boy doesn't own this land. It was his last big joke. Claude was like that, you know. Yeah. He didn't want to cheat the boy. He liked him. Old Claude was just having fun. Mr. Paladin, what are we gonna do? Well, I don't know, F. Looks like old Claude had the last laugh on both of us. All we can do now is go back to San Francisco and find you a new advisor. You look very dusty today, Mr. Paladin. Yes, I know, Ms. Wong. I foolishly left my windows open during that gale we had this morning. Gale? Wind, Ms. Wong. The wind will never gale in San Francisco. You're quite right, Ms. Wong. Forgive me. I've forgotten you. Forgive. Come in, Come in. Oh, Misa Paladin, I have letter for you from funny place named reward. Reward? It's been six months since I was there. Let me see. F. Milton Gardner. F. Who? F. Milton Gardner, Ms. Wong. You remember my telling you about him? Well, what's this? Oh, look like check money. Mr. Paladin, it is check for $5,000. Oh, my. What does. Let us say. Let's see. And when doc Belden found Mr. Spicer's last will and testament, he sent for me. And what do you think? Mr. Spicer had left all that property to me, Lock, stock and barrels. Oh, very nice. Why she do that, Mr. Potter? Well, he goes on to say Mr. Spicer did it because f provided him with the biggest laugh of his life. That's too bad. Oh, why too bad if men laugh? Well, Ms. Wong, I've seen a lot of men die, but that was the first time I'd ever seen a man die laughing. And it was that last laugh that killed him. Have Gun Will Travel, created by Herb Meadow and Sam Ra, is produced and directed in Hollywood by Frank Paris and stars John Dana as Paladin, with Ben Wright as hey boy and Virginia Greg as Ms. Wong. Tonight's story was specially written for Half Gun Will Travel by Tom Hanley and Jack Miles. Featured in the cast were Bill Idson, Ralph Moody, Frank Katie, Jack Moyles and Marvin Miller. This is Hugh Douglas inviting you to join us again next week when CBS Radio presents have Gun Will Travel SA Foreign. This has been a presentation of OTRWesterns.com and we hope you enjoyed. Please take some time to like and rate our shows in your favorite podcast application. Follow us on Facebook by going to otrwesterns.com Facebook subscribe to our YouTube channel by going to otrwesterns.Com YouTube and send us an email podcasttrwesterns.com you can call and leave us a voicemail. 707-986-8739 this episode is copyright under the Attribution Non Commercial Share Like Copyright for more information go to otrwesterns.com copyright have a great day and thanks for listening. Sam.