- Marty Markham: Just as I suspected. The Triple R is nothing but a dirty old farm.
- Spin Evans: Well, what's our dirty old farm comin' to?
- Perkins: Young man! I say, young man!
- Ambitious: Who, me?
- Perkins: Yes, what's going on here? I saw Master Martin through the window. Which way did he go? Why is Mr. Burnett chasing him? Well?
- Ambitious: He just said he was gettin' out, that's all I know.
- Perkins: He can't get out of anywhere without me. It's against instructions.
- Ambitious: I guess he forgot.
- Perkins: Well, they aren't actually his instructions, they're mine. That is, they're his grandmama's. Well, his grandmama instructed me... Oh, what's the use? Which way did he go?
- Ambitious: He went thatta-way, through the grove.
- Spin Evans: What happened?
- Perkins: Just a small fracture, Master Spin, nothing to be alarmed about.
- Spin Evans: What I mean is, is Marty gonna stay?
- Perkins: I don't know, sir.
- Spin Evans: I been talking it over with the other guys, and we decided that we wouldn't mind it if he did.
- Perkins: That's our next problem. But I'm afraid his grandmama will feel that he ought to return home.
- Spin Evans: Mr. Logan's in there talking to her now, and...
- Perkins: What?
- Spin Evans: He's in there talking to her.
- Perkins: He's not on the telephone?
- Spin Evans: Yeah.
- Perkins: Oh, no! I asked him to wait!
- Perkins: Mr. Logan, you want the lad to stay here, and so do I. He's never wanted anything more than this in his whole life. But she'll never understand unless I handle this.
- Col. Logan: But I thought that...
- Perkins: I'm the one to manage her.
- Col. Logan: You?
- Perkins: I know you've seen me tremble in her presence, but that was only for appearence's sake. Please, sir, leave me to face her alone.
- Col. Logan: Well, give her my regards.
- Ollie: How many times I gotta tell you boys not to bother me while I'm doin' my weekly relaxation? Whaddya want?
- Spin Evans: Is it okay to saddle this horse for Perkins?
- Ollie: Perkins?
- George, the cook: Nice Sunday afternoon. He take a rest? No. He play cards with Sam? No. He gotta go for ride in country.
- Perkins: Good day, Oliver, Master Evans. This is my steed, I presume?
- Ollie: Perkins, I'm proud of you.
- Perkins: Oh, I simply decided that it was my duty to learn to ride. As long as I'm staying at the Triple R, I feel I should master the equestrian art.
- Ollie: The what?
- Perkins: Precisely. I really hadn't intended to bother you at all, Oliver. That's why I asked Master Evans to help me.
- George, the cook: Hey, Perkins, you know what's wrong with horses? Look, no wheels!
- Perkins: Why, I say, Oliver, I never saw a horse with such well-developed ears.
- Ollie: That's 'cause it's a mule. This here's Daisy, one of the pack mules. Loyal, fearless, smart, and dependaple.
- Perkins: Well, I'll just walk her around for a bit, just to get the feel of her. I won't be long.
- Ollie: Perkins, this here's got the smoothest, easiest gait. Like sittin' on a rocking chair. Ain't that right, Spin?
- Spin Evans: Sure, Daisy's easier to ride than a merry-go-round.
- Perkins: Well, in that case, would you give me leg up, Oliver?
- Ollie: Right-o.
- Perkins: Upsy-daisy. There we are. Well, thank you very much, Oliver, Master Evans. Well, off we go! Tally-ho!
- Marty Markham: Did you see Perkins while you were out there?
- Russell: Did we see Perkins!
- Speckle: If it wasn't for Perkins, we won't be here! We woulda been eaten up by a bear!
- Marty Markham: What do you mean? What happened to Perkins?
- Speckle: We were in a tree, and a bear was down below, and Perkins comes riding up. He rides right up to that bear, and the bear takes one look at him and high-tails it way over the mountain!
- Russell: He sure is a brave one!
- Marty Markham: But what happened to Perkins?
- Russell, Speckle: We don't know!
- Ambitious: People who waste so much ambition are just stupid, anyway.
- Marty Markham: Yeah, I've noticed you're just about the most ambitious guy I know.
- Bill Burnett: Have you counted your horses this morning?
- Ollie: Have you counted your riders?
- Bill Burnett: I'm looking for Marty. He snuck out early for some reason.
- Ollie: Again? How many times have you lost that one?
- Bill Burnett: You know how Logan is about boys taking out horses alone, new boys, at least.
- Ollie: And what gives you the idea he'd be taking out a horse?
- Bill Burnett: Ollie, will you wake up? Marty's nowhere around, and you know how sensitive he is about having to ride Skyrocket around the corral with the smaller kids.
- Ollie: A fellow could learn a lot doing it by himself. Like the bridle. Must've been no easy job snagging Skyrocket with that.
- Bill Burnett: Ollie, you did see him. What's the matter with you?
- Ollie: I didn't say I saw anything. Just one bridle I didn't see.
- Bill Burnett: And one horse named Skyrocket. You better get out there and haul him back, or else I will, before Logan finds out.
- Ollie: If the kid wants to do anything that bad, let him. He ain't gonna be hurt.
- Bill Burnett: He really snuck out Skyrocket by himself?
- Ollie: Spin Evans pulled the same stunt his first summer. Wound up makin' camp rodeo.
- Col. Logan: Marty, every year I pick a new boy to demonstrate things for us at the first lesson, and this year, you're it, so climb right up there on him.
- Marty Markham: I - I can't.
- Col. Logan: What?
- Marty Markham: I just learned those words.
- Col. Logan: Oh, come on. Get up there in the saddle and show us something.
- Joe: Hey, he's scared!
- Alfred "Al" McGrath: How do you like that? Scared of a horse!
- Marty Markham: What if I am? I just haven't learned how to do it yet, that's all. I didn't mean to lie. I just didn't want the other guys to think I was...
- Col. Logan: Marty, I'm sorry.
- Frank: What a phony!
- Col. Logan: What's the matter with him?
- Bill Burnett: He's scared of horses.
- Col. Logan: I didn't know that.
- Bill Burnett: Marty, just because a gang of kids laughed at you...
- Marty Markham: It isn't that.
- Bill Burnett: Are you sure it isn't, Marty?
- Marty Markham: No.
- Bill Burnett: You know, every boy has something he's pretty good at. Believe me, when it comes to foot racing, you're pretty terrific. I'd like to time you around the track someday.
- Marty Markham: I don't want to be a foot racer.
- Bill Burnett: You didn't want to be a boxer, either, Marty.
- Marty Markham: I know how crazy I've acted Mr. Burnett, and maybe someday I will learn how to ride - alone.
- Bill Burnett: No, Marty, I doubt if you'll ever learn, not if you run away from it this time.
- Bill Burnett: You said you might like to try it alone sometime.
- Marty Markham: What?
- Bill Burnett: Here, Skyrocket. He's yours, isn't he? Come on, nobody's watching.
- Marty Markham: Mr. Burnett...
- Bill Burnett: Why don't you call me Bill? All the other boys do.
- Marty Markham: Oh. Bill, you mean I should get on him now?
- Bill Burnett: Well, sure, why not?
- Marty Markham: No.
- Bill Burnett: Marty, all your life, you've had to do everything alone, so it's more than just being afraid of horses, isn't it?
- Marty Markham: They're still at the corral.
- Bill Burnett: Well, it may have seemed like a long time, but it's only been a half-hour or so.
- Marty Markham: I better get off.
- Bill Burnett: Hey, wait a minute. The corral gate's wide open. Marty, your trouble is just being afraid of getting on a horse. It's something a lot tougher that you've got to learn right now.
- Marty Markham: I don't understand.
- Bill Burnett: Yes, you do. How 'bout it? You willing to show me some real bravery?
- Marty Markham: What?
- Bill Burnett: Go ahead, ride him in.
- Marty Markham: Well, all right. Come on, Skyrocket, not too fast.
- Bill Burnett: Speck, you can stand a little kidding, can't you?
- Speckle: Sure, Mr. Burnett, go right ahead.
- Bill Burnett: [singing] Speckle came to the Triple R, collected a frog and a snake in a jar. He caught a chipmunk, so he thunk, but the stripes were white and boy, how it...
- [Bill holds his nose]
- Speckle: That wasn't a skunk, that was Louie!
- Louie: Hey, I do not!
- Col. Logan: Burnett, I thought you had better sense. I bring you out here to run the place for me, and look what happens.
- Bill Burnett: I didn't tell him he could go out alone. And don't blame Ollie, either. He was just anxious to help Marty, that's all.
- Col. Logan: Sorry, Bill, I guess I'm just a cantankerous old worrier.
- Ollie: Is he hurt, Bill?
- Bill Burnett: Looks like he's got a broken arm. He better get him back to the ranch.
- Col. Logan: I'll ride ahead and get the doc.
- Spin Evans: Is he gonna be okay, Doc?
- Dr. Spaulding: Sure, Evans, a fine future doctor you turned out to be. Don't you know you're supposed to stop these things before they happen?
- Col. Logan: What do you think I should tell his grandmother?
- Dr. Spaulding: If I was in your place, I wouldn't tell her anything until I've gotten a chance to look at those X-rays. Might as well give her the whole story at once.
- Perkins: Yes, sir, when we return from town this evening, I'll give you all the details.
- Col. Logan: All right, Perkins. Oh, Doc, Burnett's gonna follow you in the truck. Be all right if they bring Marty back tonight, won't it?
- Dr. Spaulding: Of course. Broken bones don't mean anything to kids. They just scare old folks like us.
- Spin Evans: Last year, a kid bust his arm by standing on his head in an upper bunk.
- Louie: I could do that.
- Spin Evans: You shoulda seen how fast his folks yanked him outta here.
- Ambitious: I'll bet his grandmother's instructions didn't say anything about this.
- Alfred "Al" McGrath: Grandmothers are even worse than parents about blood and stuff.
- Ambitious: Poor Marty. Just when he was startin' to like the Triple R.
- Frank: Liked it? He called it a dirty old farm, and he kept tryin' to run home, didn't he? So let him! Honestly, who cares about a drip like that?
- Spin Evans: Why don't you stick your head in a bucket?
- Rick: Boy, that guy didn't even cry.
- Freddie: And it hurt, too, bad. He took out the horse all by himself, and then he fought a rattlesnake single-handed.
- Speckle: I wish he had remembered to cut off the rattle for my collection.
- Marty Markham: Dr. Spaulding said it'd be healed long before summer camp was over. Maybe I could just stay here.
- Perkins: I'm afraid that's up to her, not us.
- Marty Markham: Why can't you tell her that Dr. Spaulding won't let me go, that I have to stay in this climate for it to heal right? Mr. Logan's going to talk to her. Please make him argue with her!
- Bill Burnett: We'll do all we can, Marty.
- Marty Markham: Oh, it won't do any good. Nothing will. You don't know her. I'll probably never get another chance to ride Skyrocket again in my whole life.
- Col. Logan: Spin, what are you doing here?
- Spin Evans: Well, I got a letter today, sir. It's definite I can't come back to the Triple R next year.
- Col. Logan: Next year's a long time off. We'll worry about it then.
- Spin Evans: That isn't why I'm here. I was just wondering what it must be like to be Marty right now, waiting for a phone call, waiting for his family to tell him that he has to leave the Triple R tonight and maybe never come back.
- Col. Logan: Well, that we don't know yet, boy.
- Marty Markham: Just like a big dog. Only I never had a dog.
- Bill Burnett: Folks can learn a lot from animals.
- Marty Markham: I used to think you had to fight a horse, make him do what you wanted.
- Bill Burnett: Well, you do have to be firm. You have to be with your horse and understand how he thinks and feels before you can really be a good rider.
- Marty Markham: You know the only trouble with this arm now? When I ride him around bareback, slowly, like you said I could, I have an awful time climbing up on his back. But Ollie's teaching me a new trick. You can't see it yet, though. Skyrocket and I have to work on it just a little more.
- Bill Burnett: You two sure get along together, don't you?
- Marty Markham: Sure do.
- Bill Burnett: Maybe someday you'll learn to get along with people, too.
- Speckle: I got Rick's camera and Mr. Logan's field glasses and my telescope. Come on!
- Russell: I told you I'd rather go swimmin'.
- Speckle: It isn't such a walk. Besides, I need you to help me get up that tree.
- Russell: Who wants to look at some baby birds anywhow?
- Gerald: I like baby birds.
- Speckle: They're Cooper's Hawks fledglings, and besides, you never know what else you might run into.
- Russell: Maybe we'll find a spot to go swimmin'!
- Spin Evans: On Daisy, you got nothing but a passenger. If she decides to go sight-seein', he might not be back for a week.
- Ollie: Then I guess I won't have Perkins bothering me for a while, will I?
- Russell: Can bears climb trees, Speck?
- Speckle: Sure they can.
- Russell: Oh, I knew I shouldna came! Mr. Logan said we were all goin' on a pack trip this week. You don't suppose they'd go away and forget us, do you?
- Speckle: Don't be so silly. That bear'll leave pretty quick. It shouldn't even be out this late in the summer. They stay up in the pine country mostly.
- Russell: He probably doesn't read all those nature books like you do.
- Marty Markham: I'll bet you thought it was funny too, didn't you?
- Spin Evans: Why do you care?
- Marty Markham: He's my responsibility, that's why.
- Spin Evans: If you're so worried about him, why don't you go out there and find him?
- Marty Markham: You know I can't, but in a few days, I'm gonna have this cast off, and then...
- Spin Evans: Then what, pedestrian?
- Marty Markham: Don't call me that!
- Bill Burnett: Now you remember what Doc Spaulding said about letting that arm heal up first.
- Marty Markham: Well, he took the cast off, that's all I care about.
- Bill Burnett: Oh, it hasn't been that bad, has it?
- Marty Markham: No, but the summer's almost over.
- Bill Burnett: You strengthen that arm slowly like he told you to and it'll be ready in plenty of time for the rodeo.
- Col. Logan: Well, Marty, I see you're in time for the pack lesson.
- Marty Markham: Yes, sir.
- Ambitious: Hey, lemme see your arm.
- Marty Markham: Well, I have to take it easy for a while, no hard riding for anything.
- Joe: Hey, did you hear the news? We're goin' to a new place on the pack trip!
- Ambitious: Yeah, the rain washed out something, so we're goin' to a place called Haunted Valley.
- Marty Markham: Where?
- Ambitious, Joe: Haunted Valley!
- Bill Burnett: We get a kid every year who's afraid of the horses. Last year was a boy named Spin Evans.
- Marty Markham: Spin Evans!