Incident at Alabaster Plain

Incident at Alabaster Plain is the second episode of the first season of Rawhide. It first aired on January 16, 1959.

Plot[]

Looking for water, the drive arrives at a mission where Rowdy's wartime friend (they spent time together in a POW camp) is getting married. The bride's stepbrother, a murderer sixteen times over, has returned to claim his share of the family fortune. - Source: tv.com

Trivia[]

Second of 3 Rawhide episodes directed by Richard Whorf. He directed the first episode as well as this second one. It took more than six years before he directed his third Rawhide episode, which eventually became the series last.
It is revealed Rowdy fought in the Civil War, on the side of the Confederates.
In this episode, Rowdy acquires the ebony-handled Colt Peacemaker with silver-inlaid rattlesnake that he carries for the rest of the series and Eastwood took to Europe to carry in the first two films of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy (he carried a Navy Colt with similar grips in the third).

Quotes[]

Gil Favor (opening): "A thousand miles from San Antonio to the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri. We got three thousand head of Texas cattle that don't want to go. When everything's right, we cover eight miles a day. But how often are things right? The weather's what hits you the hardest between the eyes. Boiling sun that dries up the water, brings the dust and sand. Storms that mill the cattle, touch off stampedes. The way the land lies can hurt you, too, wearing off pounds with every step the beeves take. But the way to even things up is to hire the best men in the business. I got 'em. Pete Nolan, scout. Rowdy Yates, new as they come, but he's got the makings. Joe Scarlet, swing. Jim Quince, flank. And the man who can make or break the drive - the cook, Wishbone. And the cook's louse - his name is Mushy. And somebody's gotta kick this whole kit and kaboodle along. That's me. Gil Favor, trail boss. I ride point."
Wishbone: "How do you tell which one's the single ladies?"
Pete: "Well, you just pick one out and ask her to dance. If you don't get kicked where the saddle fits, she's single."