Jim Hardie investigates a stagecoach robbery where a Wells Fargo employee was shot and the only thing taken was a dog being shipped to a new home. The robbery was unusual and there was no apparent motive, and Hardie must not only track down the thieves, he must uncover the reason why they stole the dog in the first place.
The episode plot is not what one could exactly call epic, but it was definitely entertaining. I like Dale Robertson a lot, and ToWF is one show that - for me - is always a good watch. Turns out that Hank wasn't the exact target of the bad guys, it was his collar, which Hardie eventually discovers held a concealed deed to a gold mine.
A big part of the charm of this episode was Dale Robertson's interaction with the dog, Hank. While investigating the site of the stagecoach holdup, Hardie finds him abused and abandoned on the prairie and rescues him, and they strike up a warm friendship. Watching the two relaxing at the evening camp you get a distinct impression that Dale Robertson genuinely loved dogs. And Hank's affection towards Robertson was no act.
The cast was decent enough, although not particularly well known overall.
Penny Edwards played Sally Hill, the girfriend of the mine owner who had died recently. She appeared frequently in westerns during her career, and is mostly known for temporarily replacing a pregnant Dale Evans on The Roy Rogers Show. Gregg Palmer appears as Jeff Anderson, the brother of the deceased miner, and is mostly remembered as one of John Wayne's stock company in the latter part of his career. Don Beddoe appears as Sally's father Seth Hill, and was a busy character actor with 304 screen credits, but no regular roles. Although I am well familiar with these three actors, they aren't particularly well known today, if at all. But it's undeniable that all three have appeared in a lot of great episodes during the Golden Age of TV Westerns.
The episode takes a slight turn, with Sally Hill's father being complicit in the not only the robbery but the murder of Sally's late boyfriend. Seth Hill's reaction to being double-crossed is amusing ("the filthy thieves!"), and the story winds down with not much action other than a few fisticuffs. In addition, the episode just ends with no epilogue, when it was a common practice for Hardie to wrap up the conclusion with a voiceover detailing the fate of the outlaws or the lives of the cast.
These small picks notwithstanding, the episode is definitely a fun watch. Hank is a real scene stealer.
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