cougarannie

In Robert Southey's poem "After Blenheim", referring to the 18th century Battle in which the Duke of Marlborough routed the French, an old man tells two small children of burned homes, civilian casualties, and rotting corpses -- while repeatedly calling the Battle itself "a famous victory".

Paladin is moved to quote the poem when Jack Burnaby, proprietor of a travelling Punch and Judy show (and the provider of some convenient transport after Paladin is forced to shoot his own own horse) delivers them both to Fort Pawnee. The Fort is commanded by one General "Pawnee" Croft whose celebrated but somewhat controversial victory over Native Americans 16 years previously has led him to consider running for the Presidency.

Paladin watches Burnaby prime his audience for an evening puppet show, suspecting that the traditional script will be pointedly "doctored" by Burnaby. Attempting to acquire a horse and ride away before all hell breaks loose during the "performance", Paladin runs afoul of General Croft's famous temper and is forced to stay while Burnaby puts his puppets through their paces.

Additional quotes from Virgil's "Aeneid", Shakespeare's Hamlet, the English essayist Thomas DeQuincy, and even a verse from the children's nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York" add a bit of literary flair to this episode. But Burnaby's carefully-staged revelations, and the fiery denouement they provoke, leave practically everyone -- Paladin included -- completely speechless.

Courtney Burgess' Sister hires Paladin to find her brother, whom she still idolizes after 7 years although her husband dismisses the man as a liar, con man, and possibly something even worse. Guided only by an old letter posted from Sacramento Paladin sets out to find Courtney Burgess.

Two months into his trek Paladin discovers a fatally wounded man who warns him of hostile Nez Perce who have attacked a nearby fort commanded by a Colonel with the same name as the man Paladin seeks. The Colonel's "Army" however is a purely private one and his claims to the land he seized for his base of operations are as spurious as his self-proclaimed rank.

Paladin narrowly escapes a Nez Perce raiding Party and reaches "Fort Burgess" only to find it almost entirely deserted. There is a smattering of bodies, at least one of them a Nez Perce trussed up as if for a hanging. He finds "Colonel Burgess" at his desk slowly dying of the Typhoid fever that sent many of his soldiers fleeing in panic.

The Colonel is attended by a cunning military aide who introduces himself Sam as Hodges. Hodges has a fool-proof plan for escaping the Fort, but they hinge on the Colonel's being alive when the Nez Perce pay their next visit.

Paladin's suspicions are as usual, spot on, and the plot takes a surprising twist after he's forced to resort to his gun. And In the end Paladin, with the help of the Nez Perce, once more rides away pondering the irony of it all.

On the way to helping a friend sort out his vineyard woes Paladin encounters a young Lady whose itinerant suitor was gunned down in front of her by a rival (played here by Werner Klemperer) who has the local citizenry, including the sheriff, securely ensconced in his well- padded pocket. Her demands for Justice not only fall on deaf ears but get her run out of town, along with the corpse of her hapless suitor, which Paladin helps her to bury.

Paladin, unable to resist a damsel in distress or a wrong unredressed, escorts the Lady back to the scene of the shooting, installs her in a hotel, and starts making the usual "enquiries". The Lady of course is more keenly interested in eye-for-an-eye retribution, even if she has to exact it herself since Paladin clearly isn't that kind of gunslinger, but the killer's cleverly contrived "outing" brings her -- and us -- more than sufficient pleasure.

This may not be one of the greatest episodes, but trust Paladin to whip up, even in the kitchen of a rustic hotel, a gourmet lunch out of sautéed exotic mushrooms, -- and find a novel use for a conveniently placed potted fern!