Written by CLAIR HUFFAKER Directed by STUART HEISLER Guest Cast JACK LAMBERT as Lon Haggertt TED DiGORSIA as Jess Crowthers BEK NELSON as Dru Lemp JOHN HUBBARD  as Jake Biddle CHARLES FREDERICKS as Orin Smith DAVID ALPERT as Lester White TOM McKEE as Joe Heslip

A killer stalks Dan

Three saloonkeepers want to to get rid of the marshal's 10 p.m. curfew.  When bribery doesn't work and they can't get the town council to go against Marshal Troop, they draw straws to see who will kill him.  The man who draws the short straw doesn't have the sand to call Dan out so he hires a killer --  not a gunfighter, just an ambushing killer.

The lawyer's office

The sleazy lawyer for the saloonkeepers

I don't take bribes

Orin

Jess

Jake

Dan recognizes Lon Haggert, the hired killer, when he rides in and stops at the Blue Bonnet.  Dan warns him to be out of town by midnight.

Lon Haggert, killer

Dan recognizes Haggert

Get out of town

Dan has Johnny watch the saloon from across the street.  He doesn't know who the killer is after, but he bodes trouble for someone in Laramie.   As Dan does his evening check of the town, he joins Johnny at his post.  The killer hasn't come out, but Johnny can no longer see him from the window.   As Dan continues checking the town, the killer comes out of the shadows.  Johnny shouts a warning and shoots the man with his rifle.

A gunfighter?

No, a killer

Watch the saloon

Johnny stands guard

Saves Dan from ambush

They lock up the wounded killer but he won't tell who hired him.   A little later when Dan releases a man locked up to sleep off a drunk, the man is shot as he walks out the office door.  The shot came from either the hotel or the Blue Bonnett saloon and was clearly meant for Dan.  They're unable to find the shooter.  There's no one registered in the hotel room facing the office but the window is open.

The drunk wants to leave

Big mistake, shot dead

The hotel room was unoccupied

Dan and Johnny are on edge.  Dan is driven to threats against Haggert and Johnny almost shoots the office cat after he steps on it.
 

I've seen how the Cheyenne use knives

I could try it on you, Haggert

A close call for the office cat

Dan confronts the three ringleaders but gets no answers.  Dru Lemp gives Dan coffee and an impassioned speech about how his curfew has saved the lives of decent people who were the victims of the fights and killings prior to the curfew.

Dan questions the three

The strong bolster the weak

Dru gives a pep talk

When Dan does the 10 p.m. curfew round the next night, he has Johnny tail him about half a block back.   When Dan hears the pump of a shotgun from across the street, he does a dive and roll of the kind usually reserved for his deputy.  The shooter is the saloon owner who drew the short straw. The other two ringleaders are later picked up as the flee to Cheyenne.  Johnny comments its going to be nice to be able to walk around town completely relaxed.   But he catches himself at Dan's look.  He reckons how a lawman can never be completely relaxed.

Now we can relax

Dan raises a skeptical eye

Well, maybe not

NiteOwl Review:  This is a nice tightly written, spare episode.  No important revelations or interactions between the characters, but it does give us another look at the thankless job of guarding "the decent" people. Johnny is a fully capable deputy in this one.  Our favorite scene is the one where Johnny spots the killer and saves Dan from being gunned down.  Although we like Dan as mentor, we also like to see Johnny acting with the confidence Dan has placed in him when it's called for.