A man named Gil Anders arrives at the ranch asking to see Heath but before the
family can find out what he wants or summon Heath, Anders is shot from ambush
by two bounty hunters.
The bounty hunters claim that Anders is wanted for murder but Nick and Jarrod
refuse to allow them to take him into custody. He is seriously wounded and is
carried into the house. The doctor and Heath are both sent for.
Heath arrives as the doctor is preparing to perform a blood transfusion. Heath takes
one look at the man and tells the doctor to let him die then walks out.
The family follows and Heath informs them that he, Anders and a teenage boy had
been panning for gold together when they heard about a strike in another part of
the state.
They chose to head through the desert but Indians attacked and they lost all but
one horse and one canteen of water. They agreed to take turns riding the horse
and ration the water but one night Anders slipped away, taking the horse and
water with him. Just before the boy died, Heath promised him that if he ever found
Anders he would kill him for leaving them to die.
He tells the family to turn Anders over to the bounty hunters but they refuse so
Heath decides to stay in town until Anders either dies or recovers and leaves.
Later, Victoria locates him in the saloon and tries to convince him to come home
and to at least speak with the man but he stubbornly refuses.
TO TURN ANDERS OUT OF
THE HOUSE
& STUBBORN TO LIS-
TEN TO VICTORIA
He knows that the town's judge practically runs everything and suspects that
Anders might actually be innocent.
Jarrod is worked over by the judge's nephew and a couple of other men and urged
to leave but he stays anyway. The wife of the judge's nephew tells him that her
husband was the one that committed the murder and that Anders was set up as a
scapegoat. She hides Jarrod at the schoolhouse, telling him that he will have to be
on the stage the following day or they might kill him as well.
Nick becomes concerned because they haven't received the promised wire from
Jarrod so he goes to the saloon where Heath is located. They nearly come to blows
but Nick tells Heath that he doesn't have the time to fight him because he is head-
ing out to find Jarrod. It only takes a few moments before Heath follows him out
the door.
ANGER BEFORE TELLING
HIM THAT THEY HAVEN'T
HEARD FROM JARROD
Jarrod was registered there and force the clerk to give them the key to his
room.
As Jarrod is walking toward the stage two men grab him from behind and
the signal is given for another man to charge his team and wagon up the
street. Just as the men prepare to push Jarrod in front of the wagon, Nick
and Heath exit the hotel, see what is happening and save their brother.
The judge's nephew witnessed Jarrod's escape from across the street and
grabs a rifle, firing but missing the Barkleys. They return fire as one and
kill the man.
The judge immediately wants the Barkleys arrested for murder but the
sheriff finds the courage to defy him when his nephew's wife states that
her husband fired upon them first.
All three of the Barkley men return to the ranch and the family convinces
Heath to at least hear Anders out, which Heath reluctantly agrees to do.
Anders tells him that there was no excuse for what he did, that he was
just scared. He also states that he doesn't want forgiveness. He only wanted
to tell Heath that if he had it to do over again he wouldn't have left them
to die. All he wants from Heath is to know if he believes him. After several
moments Heath finally tells him that he does believe him.
SELF DEFENSE
THAT HE BELIEVES HIM
I believe that the family did the only thing they could with Anders. They
certainly couldn't turn him out to die or turn him over to the bounty hunters
with the injury he had received.
Anders wasn't an evil man, he was just weak and in a moment of fear for
his own life he made a poor decision. A decision that he regretted enough to
actually seek out one of the men he had wronged, which was courageous in
itself.
bewilderment. Gil knew Heath before he was a Barkley so how in the world
did he know to come to the Barkley ranch looking for him?
first several episodes and no sideburns like in the last season. Looks GREAT!!!
Second - his personality. Heath is so very stubborn and thank the Lord that the
family didn't let him have his way because deep down Heath is not a cold blooded
killer. He just needed time to realize that Anders had punished himself more
severely since he left Heath and the boy in the desert than he ever could.