End Of Innocence
JAMES BUTLER HICKOK FEELS THE PANGS OF FIRST LOVE, BUT WILL EMMA RETURN HIS AFFECTIONS?
Emma is set on going to Fort Reunion to help her friend who is about to give birth. None of the riders want to go so they draw straws. Jimmy gets the short end of it and is "forced" to escort Emma to the fort. While crossing a river, Emma falls into the water. Ever the gallant hero, Jimmy follows though he can't swim. Jimmy and Emma sit around a fire while they try to dry their clothes. Jimmy tries to avoid looking at Emma, unused to seeing a woman in her underthings. Emma tells him to just wait and he'll have a sweetheart before long. But Jimmy begins to see Emma in a different light.
They
get to Fort Reunion only to find that the civilian residents of the fort
have been evacuated after an Indian attack on Cedar Springs. The Captain
tells them that he has asked for reinforcements and that he will personally
lead the attack on the hostile Indians. Emma and Jimmy try to go home,
but the Captain orders them to stay, saying he is only thinking of their
well-being. The army doctor says Captain Ryan wants to make a name for
himself as an Indian fighter but they have never seen Indians in the territory.
When Jimmy asks about Cedar Springs, the doctor doesn't answer.
During the night, one of the soldiers creep to Emma and Jimmy beats they guy. He vows to protect Emma and take care of her. The next morning, Emma thanks Jimmy and kisses him on the cheek. Captain Ryan makes life hell for his soldier by cutting down the water ration. Emma, on the other hand, busies herself sewing the men's clothes "to keep busy."
Jimmy, tired of being cooped up, volunteers to scout for the soldiers. He finds an Indian who asks Jimmy to kill him. When he sees Captain Ryan, he calls him "shadowman." Back in Sweetwater, Sam worries over Emma's absence. When the reinforcement Captain Ryan sent for passes by Sweetwater, Sam and Buck go with them to Fort Reunion. Jimmy talks to the Indian and finds out that Ryan attacked an Indian camp filled with women and children -- no braves in it -- without provocation. When the braves arrived, Ryan left his men to die. One soldier is still alive.
Jimmy
tells the doctor and the lieutenant. And they help him free the Indian.
Jimmy and the Indian promise to meet after two days. Because of the Indian's
escape, Ryan punishes all his men. Jimmy and Emma join the soldiers by
sacrificing their blankets. During the night, Emma tells Jimmy about her
former husband. Her baby died because of smallpox. She said her husband
started staying away and one night he never came back. Jimmy vows never
to leave Emma and kisses her on the lips. Jimmy tells her he cares for
her but Emma tells him she doesn't want to mislead him and to think of
her as a friend.
Hickok tries to keep his meeting with the Indian, but Ryan shoots him and order him to be hanged. While the doctor treats his wound, Jimmy asks Emma why he is old enough to die but not old enough for her. The reinforcements arrive, including Sam and Buck. But Emma asks Sam to go with Jimmy to meet with the Indian. With the Indian, they found a soldier who was able to tell them exactly what happened in Cedar Springs. Sam and the others bring the soldier back to camp. The captain still denies what happened in Cedar Springs but the lieutenant relieves him of his responsibilities.
TRIVIA: Melissa Leo has worked with two Baldwin brothers very closely. She played mother hen Emma to Stephen's Cody in The Young Riders. She also played detective Kay Howard in Homicide: Life On The Streets with Daniel Baldwin as Beau Felton, her partner.
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