Little Joe is recruited to join the Pony Express, despite his father's objections. Despite increased Native American attacks — the route crosses their land — the administrators are determined to keep the service going. When the original organizer is killed during an attack, his assistant, Curtis Wade, takes over, has an idea for stopping the threat by the Native Americans, including publicly executing the leader of a tribe who is framed for a crime he didn't commit. This leads Ben — fraught with fear about the safety of his son — to take measures of his own to stop Wade and also stop the Indian threats.
Note: This episode was originally shown in two parts, on January 16 and 23, 1966. Because of the single story and plot, tropes applying to both parts are included in one episode description.
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Artistic License – History: By this point in the series, the year was 1866, five years after the actual Pony Express was discontinued. (The Pony Express ran from April 1860 to November 1861.) Also, Little Joe was by now 24 years old and weighed about 150 pounds; actual riders were between 16-23 and weighted not more than 130 pounds. That said, one could say this was a Whole Episode Flashback to several years earlier, to when the Pony Express was in service and a then-teenaged Joe was hired as one of the riders
