Treasure of John Walking Fox

Leonard Nimoy is excellent as John Walking Fox, a Comanche that travels with a rough, tough buffalo hunter named Jacob Beamus, played by the once-blacklisted veteran actor Lloyd Gough. When Beamus is killed during a dispute over furs Beamus is selling, Walking Fox is left without his beloved, long-time partner.

When Walking Fox pays for a "$50 funeral" for his deceased partner with a rare gold piece, it quickly becomes the talk of the town. From that point forward, Walking Fox allows the greed of the other characters to take its course and bring about their own downfall.

It is interesting that Nimoy plays a character that rarely exhibits emotion, very similar to his more famous role as Mr. Spock on Star Trek. The other characters repeatedly underestimate his cunning, making it quite easy for Walking Fox to see his partner's senseless death avenged.

The relationship between Walking Fox and Beamus is not explored much here, but it would definitely seem there was a strong bond of love between the two. Walking Fox even admits to Richard Webb's character, the fur trader Aaron Tigue, that he only hunted buffalo with Beamus because that is what Beamus wanted to do. Walking Fox says he does not need the money Tigue owed Beamus for the furs they delivered, nor does he want it.

This episode is one of the more intriguing stories from the 11th season, and it features another excellent cast that includes Nimoy and Gough, along with Jim Davis, Webb, and Ted Gehring, all recognizable actors from the period. Howard Culver makes one of his frequent appearances as the hotel clerk Howie, and Kelton Garwood plays his recurring role as Percy Crump.

Leonard Nimoy plays an Indian named John Walking Fox in this offering where John is a companion of a buffalo hunter named Jacob Beamus. They have been out hunting animal skins for a long period of time and are now back in Dodge to collect their money.

A fir trader named Aaron Tigue agreed to pay 50 cents a hide but now tells Jacob that the market is soft and will only pay him 25 cents a skin. This does not set well with Jacob and he is taking Aaron over to the Marshal's office at gunpoint. But Aaron shoots Jacob and kills him all this in front of John Walking Fox and others.

When John takes the body of his friend over to Percy Crump for burial, he pays Percy with a $50 gold piece. The gold piece is from a shipment that left San Francisco and was lost somewhere east of Pueblo and none of the coins have ever been found. Now the entire town is in an roar about John Walking Fox knowing where the lost shipment of gold is located.

This attracts all kinds of seekers. Especially three cowpokes that want to rob John of the rest of his coins by any means possible. Plus it brings out the worse in the worse type of men when all of the sudden Aaron Tigue wants to befriend John just a day after killing his best friend. But John is the one looking for the last laugh in this tragic filled episode.

The story was about greed and revenge. They may not seem like they go well together but in this case the revenge is just as powerful as the greed. Leonard Nimoy does a terrific job as the Indian that sets all this plan into motion. This show held the viewer's attention as we had to find out how John's plan would eventually turn out. A good story and a good watch.